"They think it might ruin your body and your career if you get knocked out and hit the floor with your head. Robert Claus, an expert on right-wing extremism in German soccer and the author of "Hooligans: A world between football, violence," told Insider. "Some German hooligans who are active in semi-professional combat sports said that they would never fight there because they believe it is dangerous to fight on concrete," There's also no prohibition on performance-enhancing drugs.Īll of this creates plenty of unprecedented yet entirely predictable dangers-enough to deter certain hardened European hooligans. Moves that are banned by the UFC-headbutts, strikes to the spine, eye gouging, and biting-are acceptable. The plywood flooring that you'll find at most MMA and boxing events isn't used here instead, fights take place on concrete floors.
The march never materialized.įighters are free to cover their faces with skull face masks and balaclavas, but you won't see the open-palm gloves that are required for UFC fights-fighters' hands must remain bare. Few outsiders have ever attended a KOTS fight in person.Īn anti-Nazi poster in Gothenburg, Sweden on September 30, 2017, as the Sweden's Nordic Resistance Front planned to march through central Gothenburg on the day of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. Held in abandoned warehouses throughout Sweden, fights are fashioned after David Fincher's 1999 film Fight Club (based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk), which has found new life for supposed glorification of hypermasculinity as an escape from late capitalism. By 2018, prominent hooligans from across Europe were signing up for their unsanctioned brawls, which can draw a million views on YouTube.īut unlike combat sports, KOTS' unsanctioned brawls bring together unfettered ultimate fighting with an increasingly emboldened alliance of violent soccer hooliganism and far-right extremists and neo-Nazis. King of the Streets (KOTS) originated in Gothenburg, home to Sweden's most popular soccer team, in around 2013. "This is the true UFC!" 'The Most Stressed Out and Fucked Up Environment You Can Find' "This is amazing," reads a YouTube comment beneath a video of Simon's fight with Ronin 030, which drew more than 2.7 million views. Officials swarm the fallen fighter, who remains motionless until the camera fades to black. Simon stands over his fallen foe, his right fist raised in the air triumphantly as the crowd rages all around him. Ronin's head slams against the concrete with a sickening thud. When he grows bored with his prey, he delivers two punches to Ronin's temple that send the taller man tumbling backwards.