This was the moment I thought a man died at Power Slap in Vegas

You probably haven't heard of the sport of Power Slap, but if UFC head-honcho Dana White has anything to say about it you soon will.

White's latest venture is basically boiling down the most brutal aspect of UFC into bite-sized moments, where the threat of competitors having their lights turned off is ever present.

Two "slappers" face off over a podium, each taking turns to slap the other as hard as they can over three to five rounds in the hopes of knocking their opponent out cold.

If both somehow manage to remain standing at the end judges look at who did the most damage – standing eight counts, for example, or who slapped better without performing fouls like clubbing, where the slap wraps around to the back of the head.

So it was on a temperate Friday evening in Las Vegas – it had dropped to only 38C at 6pm – that I found myself wandering down to the Fontainebleau hotel and casino to check out Power Slap 8.

The event was packed, much to my shock, and even the venue seemed taken aback so many people had turned up, with getting in a shambles of long, snaking lines and confusion as to where to scan in.

I was interested to see just who the clientele were for the event. I imagined I would probably be the only naive Kiwi there and the rest would be American dudes wanting to see some blood.

To my surprise the crowd was pretty mixed – there were glamorous women, D-list US fight celebs who were often flashed up on the big screens, and the aforementioned American dudes screaming 'kill him!' at the stage.

Most of those gathered were also at their first Power Slap event and had no idea what to expect.

The atmosphere lent itself to having a beer in hand. Unfortunately one Corona (the cheapest beer available) cost NZ$30 – about a third of the ticket price – so it seemed best to buy one and nurse the hell out of it.

The debacle getting in meant I, along with most of the crowd, missed the first couple of slap fights.

Luckily for us, Russian farmer turned power slapper Vasilii "Dumpling" Kamotskii was up next against Kamil "Polar Bear" Marusarz.

The Polar Bear towered over Dumpling and I said to the young guys next to me how Dumpling would be lucky to even reach high enough to hit the guy's cheek. Oh, how wrong I would be.

Dumpling won the toss and got to slap first – this seems like a huge advantage in the sport, as the crowd was about to witness.

The referee leaned in and counted to three as Dumpling lined up his shot. At the end of the countdown, the portly Russian unleashed hell on Polar Bear's left cheek with an audible crack that rang out around the room.

Polar Bear went limp immediately and fell backward to the floor. Clearly he was no longer with us in spirit.

The crowd – including Power Slap owner Dana White – went wild, jumping to their feet and screaming in shock, horror, and delight. I took another slow sip of my beer wondering if I could last the rest of the show without getting another.

"Is he dead?" a guy behind me asked. "Oh my God, I think he is dead!" a lady behind me exclaimed.

If Polar Bear wasn't dead then he certainly wasn't well – he lay still on the canvas for more than a minute as Dumpling celebrated and a group of officials gathered around him, possibly debating whether to bring out a defibrillator or not.

Slow motion replays of the massive slap played out on the big screens around the venue, drawing groans and cheers from the crowd.

Eventually, after what seemed like an age, Polar Bear started moving and was gingerly guided off the stage.

This moment drew less enthusiastic applause from the crowd, but most people seemed OK with the fact he survived.

The co-headline and eventual headline fight between Da Crazy Hawaiian and Van Heerden were tamer affairs in comparison, both going down to the judge's decision.

The crowd quickly dispersed after Da Crazy Hawaiian was declared victorious after managing to stagger Van Heerden twice.

After the event was done and the white slap powder was dusted, Power Slap founder White made some bold statements.

"Some of you were there and heard me in the early days, I said this will be the biggest sport in the world," MMA Junkie reported White said.

"This will be bigger than the UFC.

"Nobody leaves a UFC live event and goes, 'Yeah, I don't ever wanna see one of these again.' That's the same thing with the Power Slap, it continues to grow.

"This was our eighth event. We've only done eight events, and look at the success of this thing in just eight shows."

He wasn't wrong about me not ever wanting to see another live Power Slap event again – I just don't want to have to pay $30 for a beer next time.