MANCHESTER, NH – On June 27, Manchester-native and Central High School alumni Zak “The White Hulk” Lansing made his debut at Power Slap 13 in a bout with Ro Montana at The Fontainebleau in Las Vegas.
Due to contractual restrictions that prevented Lansing from sharing the results until Dana White’s Power Slap company posted the video online, the results of competition could not be released until recently.
For Lansing, the results were not what he had hoped. Lansing was disqualified after two striking violations, conceding the bout to his opponent.
It was one of seven disqualifications on the card that night.
“It was frustrating for me because I feel like I won,” said Lansing. “At the end of the day, I’ll go back and switch up my swing a bit and think about how I can be more accurate. It never occurred to me that it would be so difficult to hit someone square on the chin, but it is.”
For those unfamiliar with power slapping as a professional sport, it is almost exactly as it would seem: Two competitors stand across from each other and take turns striking each other with an open palm to the cheek, with the intent of knocking out their opponent. Most fights are three rounds, or three slaps each, and if no one is knocked out—similar to boxing or mixed martial arts—the decision goes to a panel of judges.
Lansing lost the coin toss, which gave Montana the first slap in Round 1.
“After the first slap he hit me with, I smiled at him. Right then, I knew he wasn’t going to knock me out,” Lansing said.
Lansing’s first strike was his first violation for hitting high, above the chin, thus losing the round.
In Round 2, Lansing said he was again unfazed by Montana’s slap and believes he clearly won that round.
In the third round, Lansing was cited for a second striking violation and disqualified before the decision could go to the judges.
“I was pretty upset,” Lansing said. “I don’t take losing well. I hate losing more than I like winning, and I was pretty miserable afterwards, but you have to live and learn.”
But Lansing has nothing but respect for his opponent. “[Montana] is a really nice guy, and I have nothing but good things to say about him. He is tough as nails, as tough as they come, and he is a class act,” said Lansing.
On the whole, Lansing said he had a positive takeaway from his first Power Slap experience. “I will look back at the whole trip fondly,” he said. “I had a great time in Vegas, and I made a lot of new friends. It also woke me up to the fact that I should be competing. I’m excited about the future.”
Lansing, who has been signed by Power Slap for two years, said he hopes to receive a call to compete in the next Power Slap event in October. In the meantime, he will continue with his training and possibly pursue a bare knuckle boxing bout.