Gay pride apparel for men
![gay pride apparel for men gay pride apparel for men](https://queerintheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Gay-Helsinki-Pride-Finland-1980-1024x768.jpg)
Applicants are also asked about their "streetfighting/hooligan background, if you have one."
GAY PRIDE APPAREL FOR MEN PROFESSIONAL
After I expressed interest, a "fight application" came back that asked a range of questions: Age, height, weight, and experience, including amateur and professional fight records. When I asked him what had attracted him to KOTS, he told me that, as a kid, "Fight Club" had been one of his favorite movies, and that he remains fascinated by underground fight culture and the "extreme adrenaline rush" that comes with it.Īpplications to compete are sent out via Telegram, the alternative social media application popular among both anti-fascists and the far right. Hooi, who has since transitioned back to professional MMA, wouldn't agree to an interview, but said he would answer questions over text on WhatApp. Most of the KOTS fighters I reached out to ignored my request, but then one got back to me: Brian Hooi, a Dutch MMA fighter who's Black, and has appeared as "HooiBooi" in two KOTS fights during the past year. Still, I wanted to better understand what KOTS is really about and whether it poses a serious threat. And as a dark-skinned Egyptian, I was reluctant to put myself in that position, even though non-white fighters have occasionally competed for the organization.
![gay pride apparel for men gay pride apparel for men](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2079/1035/products/genderfluid1_480x480.png)
Given the secrecy that shrouds KOTS events, it would have been tricky to attend an event in person. The fight club's videos were popular among neo-Nazis and hooligan groups that have flourished on alternative social media platforms such as Telegram.
![gay pride apparel for men gay pride apparel for men](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0559/4123/4749/products/368d86dcdb55c8c65bcf57351ccf41b8_1445x.jpg)
I first became aware of KOTS last year while researching the European far-right. 30, 2017.Īs Claus says, the fascination with "ideas of violent masculinity" that's shared by some hooligans and combat athletes "has always been a giant, social Darwinist door to the far right." The application The far-right Nordic Resistance Movement marches in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Sept. Whether by accident or by design, KOTS has become a platform for some of the most notorious hatemongers across Europe, united by a shared penchant for violence and a mutual affection for combat sports. Then, it's all over."īut it's not just the physical risks that give cause for alarm. "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,"
![gay pride apparel for men gay pride apparel for men](https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.489029787.6743/ssrco,classic_tee,womens,101010:01c5ca27c6,front_alt,square_product,600x600.u1.jpg)
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.
GAY PRIDE APPAREL FOR MEN FREE
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.