Dana White landed a rare opportunity to promote anything he wanted on a Nascar Racecar at the Daytona 500. That is basically the Super Bowl for Nascar. Instead of promoting UFC 285: Jones vs Gane, or TUF: McGregor vs Chandler, they chose to put Power Slap on the car. The number 78 car, driven by BJ McLeod will have the Power Slap logo on the hood and a couple of slappers on the door.
Not that the UFC needs promotion at this stage in the game, but the amount of promotion the UFC is doing for a Slap league instead of their own brand is a little out of control in my opinion. The greatest fighter of all time is returning at UFC 285, Jon "Bones" Jones. Bones is taking on Ciryl Gane for the vacant Heavyweight Title who is one of the most complete fighters in the Heavyweight Division. Valentina Shevchenko defends her Flyweight Title against Alexa Grasso in the co-main event of UFC 285 as well. Those fights on the doors with the poster on the hood of the 78 car would have been a nice way to promote those fights coming up on March 5th.
UFC 285 is going to blow up regardless with the return of the GOAT. The Ultimate Fighter, on the other hand, might need a little promotion as last season: Nunes vs Pena was the show's lowest-rated season ever. Conor McGregor will certainly bring viewers back, but what about the casual fans who only watch the big fights? The casuals still might not think to watch the reality TV show that builds to a fight between Michael Chandler and Conor McGregor. There's no doubt in my mind TUF could use some help. I'm sure the Daytona 500 fans would be intrigued seeing Team McGregor vs Team Chandler drive by in the 78 car.
The UFC also has UFC Fight Pass they could have promoted. Fight Pass is home to many Jiu-Jitsu and grappling competitions. Setting eyes on Jiu-Jitsu would not only work wonders for Fight Pass but UFC long-term. So many of the best UFC champions train Jiu-Jitsu, but no one really watches the sport. Gordon Ryan could easily be the face of UFC Fight Pass Jiu-Jitsu as he already is the face of modern Jiu-Jitsu. Recently, Gordon was on Brendan Schaub's Food Truck Diaries and he flat-out said "I wish we(UFC Fight Pass) got the same promotion Slap gets." The UFC has gone far enough with the Power Slap promotions. Go look at UFC's Instagram, the majority of their feed since Power Slap has been running has been posts about Power Slap. It's a slap in the face to the fighters quite frankly.
I agree. Why promote a league that’s never going to gain a big audience anyway. Race fans are not going to tune into two people slapping each other in the face.