The MMA community’s unfavorable response to Power Slap League hasn’t gone unnoticed by Dana White.

On Saturday night, UFC Las Vegas will host a significant bantamweight contender bout between former champion Petr Yan and the rising Merab Dvalishvili. Meanwhile, the first season of White’s most recent side project, Power Slap League, will conclude at the UFC Apex facility that same evening.

Despite concerns raised by many within the community about the safety of competitors and their disinterest in the sport since its inception, White believes that if he wasn’t involved, there would have been no backlash.

In a pre-slap press conference for the Power Slap season 1 finale, White stated, “When it was going on before, nobody was covering it. Because I’m involved now, everyone wants to attack it. There’s no doubt about it.”

White went on to discuss how the Nevada State Athletic Commission had sanctioned Power Slap and oversee it to ensure that all health and safety precautions were in place. He also mentioned that slap-fighting bouts are beginning to be permitted in more and more places across the U.S. as five other states have approved the concept, and six more are currently under discussion, but he didn’t reveal which states had approved it.