White Nationalists, Skinheads Flock to Cage Fighting, Mixed Martial Arts

White Nationalists, Skinheads Flock to Cage Fighting, Mixed Martial Arts

By David Holthouse, Intelligence Report. Posted March 18, 2008.

Rapidly rising blood sport is wildly popular among racist skinheads and other young extremists with a thirst for violence.

Melvin “Man-o-war” Costa has a classic Nazi eagle and swastika insignia tattooed across his chest and a prison gang spider web inked on his right elbow.

Costa, 26, also is a convicted felon, self-avowed white nationalist and currently the 10th-ranked light heavyweight fighter in King of the Cage, one of the most popular semi-professional “mixed martial arts” (MMA) combat leagues in America. MMA is the fastest growing sport in the country. Television ratings for its preeminent league, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, routinely outdraw every other sport except NFL football among men aged 18-34.

Not surprisingly, this rapidly rising blood sport is likewise wildly popular among racist skinheads and other young extremists with a thirst for violence. Many white supremacist online forums have recently established discussion groups devoted specifically to MMA; skinhead gangs across the country are raising money by hosting illegal backyard tournaments; and retired white supremacist cage fighter Mike Buell runs a major MMA training school in Arizona whose logo is a Celtic cross (often used as a white supremacist symbol) and the phrase “Hail Victory” (the German equivalent is “sieg heil”).

Costa, however, is the first openly white nationalist MMA fighter to become a Top Ten-ranked competitor in a sanctioned organization like King of the Cage, which is a proving ground for up-and-coming fighters, a select few of whom go on to fame and fortune in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

“A swastika, as far as I hold it true to my own, it stands for the purity of my people’s blood,” Costa told leading MMA sportswriter Sam Caplan last October. “I do believe in the purity, security, and the survival of the white race. … When I come down that [fighter entrance] ramp and people see me, they know I’m white power.” Costa did clarify, however, that he considers himself a white nationalist rather than a neo-Nazi because “[a] neo-Nazi holds Hitler’s beliefs to be true down to a T. I don’t. I believe in Hitler’s point of view as far as racial consonance but I don’t believe a lot of [his] things as far as controlling the economy.”

By Costa’s own account, he was frequently incarcerated for burglary and assault from the time he was 15 until his most recent release from prison in March 2006. His first King of the Cage fight occurred the following April. Costa knocked out his opponent at 1:06 into the first round.

“I don’t feel pain. No fuckin’ brain, no pain!” he said then. Over the next six months he reeled off three successive knockout victories. Southern California skinheads in full dress – boots, suspenders, bomber jackets – began showing up at King of the Cage events in droves to cheer on the Aryan warrior, whose swastika tattoo, outspoken white nationalist ideology and growing skinhead fan base presented MMA promoters with a public relations dilemma.

Last Oct. 18, shortly after Costa’s comments and pictures of his tattoos were republished widely on MMA fan websites, Gary Shaw, the live events president of the parent company that owns King of the Cage, issued this statement: “I try not to allow anyone to fight in the cage or the ring that has anything inappropriate either on their gear or tattooed permanently on their body. And that means either ethnic, or racial, or anything offensive to the general public. I was unaware of the situation but I’m in the process of handling it now. Hopefully, it will never happen again.”

But it did, less than two months later. Costa fought in a King of the Cage event held last Dec. 18. For the first time, though, he lost. Davis, for his part, did not return two E-mails seeking clarification on his league’s regulation of fighters with “inappropriate” tattoos.

Judging by online forum discussions, Costa’s growing legions of white supremacist fans seemed far less concerned with his swastika or spider web tattoos than a third tattoo, circling his navel, that boasts, “I have a small penis.” The common theory is that, as one fan said, “He might be going for a bit of sarcasm, depending on the actual size of his penis, given the false stereotype about us.”

Be that as it may, Costa says, “At least God blessed me with a strong jaw and a big head.”
http://www.alternet.org/rights/79976/

The author has a few more articles on white supremacists in military, prison etc.

Would you remove a fighter, who had offensive tattoos, but put butts in seats?

1 Nazi and it’s an epidemic with legions of fans.

Fucking retarded article

I hate when people try to make news instead of reporting it.

Actually, this seems to be common. Saw it in a documentary about skinheads, apparently they are hosting MMA tournaments. Made a thread about it on MAP.

I basically reacted to it because I have seen tons of skinheads (the racist kind) in alot of dojos and clubs around here. It’s not like their MA training will make them take over the free world, but it is a pain in the ass to watch.

No doubt

But skin heads also listen to Rock and Roll music they even have their own bands, doesn’t mean rock music attracts skin heads.

I hate the subtext in the article that the “Bloody violent sport” of MMA is inherently connected with idiot redneck racists.

This has given me new incentive to train. I need to get good and go pro so i can stomp some nazi’s face in on TV. fuck that would be awesome.

I also heard skinheads like to eat food. I certainly hope that is not true.

Dumb people writing dumb articles?!!! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN

[list=1]

  • This is old.
  • Skinheads are dumb and nobody cares.
  • I thought KOTC was professional, not semi-pro. Is that true?
  • Obvious bias in the reporting: "cagefighting" and "bloodsport," along with the sport "obviously" being appealing to skinheads.
  • Suspenders and boots? Sounds like the fashion police should bust them.[/list]
  • I can’t stand these fucking racist skinhead pieces of shit. I hate to see them in the sport. But, yeah, that article sucked and portrays the same usual stereotypes of “cage fighting”.

    As usual, I would like to point out that original, traditional Skinheads are non-racist, if not anti-racist, fans of Ska and Soul music. The original Skinhead culture has nothing to do with the racists who have adopted the style, and enjoy beating them up at every opportunity.

    Carry on…

    Same old shit. A lot of people have a problem with comabt sports so they find the worst people involved and then define the whole group by them. Makes it easier to for them to argue against it.

    Pro-combat sports person: some really good point
    Anti-combat sports person: “Yeah, umm…well, you’re all Nazis! I win.”

    It seems like the reporter is purposely trying to link the two in order to attack MMA. I see this as more his own attempt to create a controversy out of thin air.

    HAY GUYS LOTS OF FAMOUS CHESS PLAYERS WERE COMMUNIST. OBVIOUSLY CHESS ATTRACTS COMMUNISTS AND IS EVIL.

    I hear skin heads breath air… Anyway I train in Cleveland and if nazi’s try to come to participate in a fight they probably won’t even make it to the venue in one piece.

    Just another reason why news isn’t news it’s nothing more than entertainment.

    I think they should let this guy in the UFC and give him an instant title shot against Rampage.

    They should drive this guy to New York and let him try out for Iron Ring. He can be on Dip Set’s team.

    I’ve never even heard of this until this thread so I doubt its as big of an issue as the article would like you to belive.

    That’s the problem with the article. They found one fighter and then write an article talking about how nazis and white power assholes are “flocking” to MMA.

    Let me quote myself:

    I don’t know why anyone even posted this or the numerous other articles regularly posted here that have an anti-MMA slant.

    They’re just bad journalism, a la News Corp. shit, period.

    Like that one article “MMA Fighter Dies After Sparring” or whatever, when it turns out that the death was unrelated to MMA. That’s just a sensationalist title with an obvious slant against MMA, implying that the fighter died from sparring.

    He lost his last fight by armbar…to a black guy. Should’ve broke it, IMO.