Pro fighters react after Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at the Oscars

Pro fighters, as well as UFC president Dana White, have given their thoughts on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars last night.

In one of the most shocking TV moments of all-time, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock during Sunday evening’s Oscars broadcast. The incident occurred after Smith took exception to a joke Rock made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith with social media going absolutely crazy in the immediate aftermath.

Now that folks have had time to sleep on it, there’s definitely a polarising viewpoint coming from the majority of commentators.

Rock took the shot well and maintained his professionalism to carry on with the show, whereas Smith apologised after going on to win the Best Actor award for his performance in King Richard.

With that being said, it’s time to take a look at how the mixed martial arts universe responded.

I’ll get you guys the scoop tune in Thursday pic.twitter.com/mgrbmGzyZb

— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) March 28, 2022

FINALLY!!!!! there's an #Oscars show worth watching. AND @chrisrock has a chin https://t.co/SYahGonQTg

— danawhite (@danawhite) March 28, 2022

Whenever anyone famous gets in a fight half the people think it’s staged

Anytime I’ve had a friend get it a fight it was 100% real

Obviously with my career my friends are more prone to getting in fights then actors but still seems rare to have a fake fight

— Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) March 28, 2022

Hey @chrisrock I got your back and you @ColbyCovMMA not so much. pic.twitter.com/XHsfyAaRAV

— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) March 28, 2022

Very hard to surprise me nowadays but watching Will Smith slap the shit out of Chris Rock is very surprising! I’m actually amazed that this happened. You could see the moment Will started to feel played

— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) March 28, 2022

Will Smith is a fucking legend.

— michael (@bisping) March 28, 2022

Holy haha that’s the way it’s gotta go sometimes pic.twitter.com/SV03o3YfOk

— Justin Tafa (@justin_tafa) March 28, 2022

In short, it’s probably going to take a while for the world to calm down after this insane series of events.

From a ratings perspective we can only imagine what this would’ve done for the remainder of the show but in terms of the morality of the whole thing, it’s a difficult issue to unpack.

Rock and Smith will likely carry on with their careers as if this didn’t happen, perhaps having to reference it or answer questions every now and then. The viewers, though, as well as TV and movie pundits, will have plenty of content to use from this for weeks and months to come – whether that be a good or bad thing is down to the general public.

What did you think of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars? Is this the most surprising Oscars moment of all-time? In an alternate reality, who would you back to come out on top in a fight between the pair?