An Alabama lawmaker wants to strengthen the state’s prohibition on slap fighting, a brutal contest that is popular on YouTube and sanctioned in the state of Nevada.

In a slap fight, two contestants stand face-to-face and exchange open-palm blows without defending themselves.

“Essentially, you stand there and get slapped as hard as you can,” said John Parris, executive director of the Alabama Athletic Commission.

“You’re not allowed to move. So it’s just a head injury waiting to happen with no gear or anything.”

The Alabama Athletic Commission regulates professional boxing, mixed martial arts, professional wrestling, and Toughman competitions in the state.

The commission voted to prohibit slap fighting in Alabama in 2022, shortly after it was sanctioned in Nevada.

Sen. Gerald Allen, a Republican from Tuscaloosa, has filed a bill that would put the Alabama Athletic Commission’s ban on slap fighting into state law.

Allen’s bill says the commission cannot authorize any match, contest, or exhibition of slap fighting.

The bill describes slap fighting as “unarmed combat consisting of two opponents who stand at arm’s length from each other and take turns slapping each other in the face.

“The opponents are prohibited from moving, flinching, or defending themselves in any way as blows are struck.”

Allen said he learned about slap fighting earlier this year while working on an update to the state law on the Alabama Athletic Commission.

“It caught my attention and I said we don’t need this,” Allen said. “And we need to police this thing as best as we can and to prohibit those events in Alabama.”

Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, leads a slap fighting organization called Power Slap.

The YouTube channel has more than 3 million subscribers.

Parris said the commission has received a few reports of slap fighting events in Alabama over the last few years, including one that was confirmed.

“We got video and the person was fined and it was taken care of that way,” Parris said. “They were banned for a certain amount of years from doing any events in the state.”

Last year, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh published a study based on analysis of videos of 78 slap fights. They said 44 of the 56 contestants showed at least one sign of concussion.

Allen said the long-term consequences of multiple concussions is the main concern.

Parris said he does not know of another competition that exposes participants to injury like slap fighting.

“The only thing even akin to it would be a bare-knuckle event,” Parris said. “But even in bare-knuckle boxing, you can move and protect yourself. So there’s nothing else like this, that you’re not allowed to protect yourself.”

The Alabama Athletic Commission’s website says it is illegal to promote, participate, or attend a slap fighting event in Alabama and can result in fines of up to $10,000.

“Anyone that is aware of an illegal slap fighting event is encouraged to contact the AAC and the local authorities to have events shut down immediately,” it says.

Although there have been several reports of slap fight events in Alabama, Parris said it has not been a major problem. He said the commission has a good rapport with wresting promoters who keep him informed.

“We have a lot of really good investigators out there that work with us,” Parris said.

“I have a lot of good communication with my wrestling promoters and they tell me if anything bad is going to happen.”