Reich stuff, wrong attitude: racism in MMA still exists even though neo-Nazi clothing company has goose-stepped away

"I know nothing. Absolutely nothing."

A couple of months ago, mixed martial arts got into a scuffle with racism when the WEC, UFC and Strikeforce all banned Hoelzer Reich, a “Naziesque” clothing company, to put it politely. It wasn’t the sport’s first encounter with the face of hate, and sadly it won’t be the last.

The story – racism in MMA – lasted all but a single news-cycle, which in the internet era is about seventeen minutes. It was December, after all, and Christmas and Chanukah and BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez were on everybody’s mind. Nazis are such a total downer. Complete killjoys.

Hoelzer Reich may have gone out of business or underground or under a rock or wherever it is fine neo-Nazi clothiers go, but when it comes to fighting racism – or at the very least, racist imagery – MMA continues to be a horribly disappointing opponent.

Okay, so lets refresh our memories on what brought all this up just a few weeks ago: Hoelzer Reich is a clothing line that incorporates Nazi imagery in its designs. The company somehow managed to sneak its hate couture onto the Ultimate Fighter finale on the back of fighter Joe Brammer.

Zuffa banned the company from future UFC and WEC events. Ditto Strikeforce. And that put an end to the story.

What someone decides to wear is their own choice; it’s called freedom of expression. However, there are professional repercussions for an athlete and their sport if they choose to wear something controversial.

Athletes represent their sport when they compete. Inappropriate behavior is a liability to athlete, sponsor and sport alike. Some sports contracts have morality clauses to keep athletes in line. For example, if you’re in the NHL or NBA, you wear a team uniform when playing and a suit when on the sidelines. And players must conduct themselves in the best interest of the team and the sport, like model citizens. It’s that simple. Get nailed for DUI or running a dogfighting ring and there are repercussions, not just in terms of the law, but penalties enforced by the respective leagues. Hell, Frank Mir is catching heat this week just for saying – in typical attention-grabbing Mir-perbole – in a radio interview that he wants nemesis Brock Lesnar to be “the first person that dies due to octagon-related injuries.”

A sponsor, in essence, tries to buy an athlete’s reputation to enhance theirs. In return, the athlete endorses the product giving it support and approval. When the sponsor is a merchant of hate, it reflects dreadfully on the athlete and the sport they represent.

Despite a T-shirt proclaiming “The Fourth Riech has begun” in German, Hoelzer Reich claims they’re not racist: “We do not have any political affiliations with any organizations, nor specific views of any controversial parties,” read a statement on the Hoelzer Reich website back when it still worked. (A more complete sense of the HR side of the situation can be found in a statement they released here.)

The similarities between Hoelzer Reich and neo-Nazi clothing company ayanware.com are blatantly obvious. Until recently, Hoelzer Reich prominently displayed a picture of WestWall, a band with neo-Nazi ties, on its website. WestWall’s lead singer, Ed Wolbank, is the former leader of a white supremacist skinhead organization called the Northern Hammerskins and is a member of Bound For Glory, one of America’s most-influential hate-rock bands. He also was one of the founders of (BFG) Productions, a white power music company.

Furthermore, Hoelzer Reich is the proud sponsor of Niko Puhakka, a fighter with neo-Nazi tattoos, including one that reads “blood and honor,” which sounds really cool and bad-ass and MMA except for the tiny fact that it was the slogan of the Hitler Youth and later the name of a neo-Nazi music promotion network. Puhakka also has the Life Rune tattooed on his chest. The Life Rune is associated with the National Alliance, which was one of the largest and most dangerous hate groups in America.

Hoelzer Reich looks neo-Nazi, it is worn by neo-Nazis, and it sponsors fighters with neo-Nazi tattoos. If it talks like a goose and steps like a goose… Enough said.

Your clothes in many ways are a reflection of who you are. Often they represent your interests and personality. Affliction says you like MMA, Prada does not. Wearing Sean John makes a statement about you that Hoelzer Reich does not.

Mac Danzig is a vegan MMA fighter and has lent his voice to animal rights causes. He was also sponsored by Hoelzer Reich. I doubt he would use his reputation as a vegan athlete to help bolster sales of KFC (if he had, we would call him a hypocrite). By allowing Hoelzer Reich to be his sponsor he gave them credibility, in the same manner he did with animal rights. Danzig no longer has Hoelzer Reich as a sponsor.

Zuffa and Strikeforce seriously messed up and let this slip through. What is equally disturbing is that a clothing company with no moral compass has enough money to pay the UFC’s sponsorship fee (upwards of $100,000 in some cases).

Interestingly, this is not the first time the UFC has been in a racist T-shirt incident. All-American golden boy Matt Hughes was once photographed holding a T-shirt that said “White Boy” and featured the SS symbol. Hughes had been signing autographs and posing for pictures all day and he was unaware of the shirt’s logo. An easy mistake to make, I suppose, but it still reflected badly on both the fighter and the sport. You would have thought afterward that fighters and the UFC would have exercised more caution. As Joe Brammer’s Hoelzer Riech T-shirt clearly demonstrates, you would have thought wrong.

Melvin Costa

Obviously this is not just a UFC problem or a Hoelzer Riech-related problem. Melvin “Man-o-war” Costa fought for King Of the Cage. He also has a classic Nazi eagle-and-swastika insignia tattooed across his chest. A loyal following of skinheads used to show up to watch him fight; he is openly racist, to wit:

Sherdog: In regard to the swastika that is tattooed to your chest, is that an accurate representation of your views?

Melvin Costa: Yeah.

After some complaints, 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.”

Less than two months later, Costa fought in another King of the Cage event.

Toni Valtonen is another fighter with “white is right” tattoos. The Finn has a swastika tattoo on his shoulder and the words “white pride” tattooed on his back. Valtonen claims they part of a misspent youth of which he is not proud. M-1 Global had required him to wear a patch over his ink while he fought. During a televised bout in the U.S., the patch fell off.

M-1 Global issued a statement saying, “M-1 does not allow Mr. Valtonen to fight with any of these tattoos exposed. Before each of Mr. Valtonen’s fights there are patches placed over his tattoos. M-1 regrets the fact that there were still tattoos shown when the patches got loose in the fight. By this statement M-1 wants to state that we do NOT in any way support the views of any individual in particular.”

Not exactly the thorough condemnation of his tattoos or the beliefs behind them that one would have hoped for.

Even Fedor Emelianko’s brother, PRIDE and sambo vet Aleksander, has questionably racist tattoos. Fedor is also a part-owner of M-1 Global, for which Valtonen and Puhakka have fought.

What your brother chooses to have tattooed on his body has nothing to do with you. Just like his beliefs are his business, too. Except when those beliefs reflect on your business. Having people with racist tattoos or wearing racist clothing represent your company makes you an ignorant fool at best and a sympathizing douchebag at worst.

MMA must be more vigilant with racist imagery if it ever wants to be considered a legitimate sport. It is up to MMA where it draws the line. For better or worse, any sponsor that might alienate any viewing audience is probably best avoided. This is not censorship of an athlete’s views but a standard that needs to be upheld so MMA’s audience is inclusive to all and exclusive to none.