Dana White says Jake Hager is being sent to a specialist in Miami after undergoing emergency eye surgery last week.
White gave the update Tuesday at the post-fight press conference for Dana White’s Contender Series.
“He went into emergency surgery that night, and then we’re sending him to a specialist down in Miami,” White said.
Hager was injured at Power Slap 23 on September 17 in Lubbock, Texas, losing by TKO to Johnny Magna in the second round. The slap left Hager bleeding from his left eye, and the injury was severe enough that White ordered the broadcast not to replay it. White described it as one of the worst he has seen in either Power Slap or UFC, and said the company would spare no expense getting Hager the care he needed. Hager’s corner called for a foul after the finish, but officials waved it off and the stoppage stood.
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Asked whether anything could be done to prevent injuries like it, White pointed to the risks that come with the sport while stressing the importance of medical testing and post-fight care.
“There’s lots of unfortunate things that happen in combat sports,” he said.
Hager’s partner, fellow Power Slap competitor Patricia Blackburn, confirmed the emergency surgery in a statement to Slap News over the weekend, thanking fans while asking for privacy.
“Jake is currently recovering from an emergency eye surgery,” Blackburn said. “We’re taking things one day at a time and keeping the details private, but your kindness, support, and genuine concern have meant more than you know.”
Neither Blackburn nor Power Slap has described the specific injury, and there has been no word on Hager’s long-term prognosis.
Hager signed a six-appearance deal with Power Slap earlier this year. He won his debut at Power Slap 19 in April, stopping Devin Jenkins in the third round, then lost to Amanpreet Singh in July before last week’s bout with Magna, who wrestles on the independents and for NWA New Mexico. That leaves Hager at 1-2 in the promotion, with knockout losses in his last two.
Ahead of his debut, Hager said he understood what he was getting into.
“You’re signing up to get slapped and trying to slap someone back as hard as you can,” Hager told TMZ’s Inside the Ring in March. “So I expect injuries to happen.”
Power Slap launched in 2023 and is co-owned by White and Zuffa founder Lorenzo Fertitta. Competitors take turns delivering and receiving open-hand strikes without defending themselves, a format that has drawn sustained criticism from neurologists and brain injury researchers since the promotion began.
Hager wrestled in WWE as Jack Swagger from 2006 to 2017. He won the ECW Championship in 2009, won the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 26 the following year, and cashed it in on Chris Jericho to win the World Heavyweight Championship in 2010, holding it into that summer. He later worked as part of a patriotic-heel act and spent his final WWE years in the tag division.
He joined AEW in 2019 as a member of Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle, where he stayed through the group’s run before leaving the company. Hager also competed in mixed martial arts, signing with Bellator in 2019 and going unbeaten across a short run there, and he was a Division I All-American wrestler at Oklahoma who also played college football.
He had considered himself effectively retired from wrestling at one point but returned to the ring, and has continued taking independent bookings alongside the Power Slap deal.
