The "Battle of the Rings"
How neonazis across Europe find each other in the octagon
Kickboxing, Mixed Martial Arts, K-1 and other forms of combat sports all come together under a brown banner across Europe. Neonazis of the most violent sort meet each other in an underground tournament called the “Kampf der Nibelungen” or “Battle of the Rings”, named after the Wagnerian “Ring der Nibelungen”. It is a combat sports tournament organized by German, French and Hungarian neonazis and has been a staple for the most violent neonazi groups across Europe to attend since 2013.
Mostly organized in secret the tournament has been exposed by antifascist research groups and consequently came to the attention of the German authorities which then banned the event on several occassions across the last decade. But this has not stopped the organizers from setting up several other tournaments across Europe. According to the KdN, the organizing group behind the tournament, there will be a new tournament in 2025 and they would like it to be in Germany again as Germany is the natural homeground for the neonazi movement.
The tournament, which started in 2013, is a very internationally organized event. Neonazi groups like Blood and Honour, Combat 18, Die Rechte, Hammerskins and members and fans of the neonazi band Categorie C have always kept in close contact with each other. Neonazi ideology is not bound by borders or historical animosity between certain nationalities. No, the combined hatred of the Left, the Jews, the Establishment and the LGBTQ community has forged a strong bond with those that want to return to the days of the Third Reich, whether or not their homeland was occupied by the nazis or not.
Blood and Honour
One of the core organizing groups of the tournament is Blood and Honour, named after the nazi-slogan “Fur blut und ehre”. Blood and Honour, and its terrorist sister organization Combat 18, has been banned across Europe for decades but it has not stopped this group from being a driving force behind the most violent elements in the neonazi scene. Gaining membership of Blood and Honour is seen as the culmination of a good nazi career. Known for senseless violence against leftist opponents, immigrants and members of the LGBTQ community, Blood and Honour members look the part. They are big, either through beer or steroids, bald and are full of nazi tattoos. They wear their black shirts with the Blood and Honour slogan on the front with pride at protests and concerts and tend to have their own bars and hang-outs much like biker-gangs. They are know to deal in drugs and have been used as enforcers for criminal organizations. They are not subtle in their ideology and are not in it for the hearts and minds. They are violent, hatefull and they thrive on it. And througout the years they found themselves wanting to train in combat sports to become even more of an efficient troop of Aryan warriors. So they started training in boxing, kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts. But they, like other neonazis, were frustrated that they had to train in the same gym with non-Aryans, who on more than one occassion beat them in sparring or at tournaments. The shame and humiliation drove Blood and Honour and their affiliates to open their self-run gyms that had Aryan-only memberships. And so a network of neonazi fight-gyms opened up across Europe with a spike in schools in Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Czechia and Hungary, but France and Greece were not far behind.
Die Rechte and Denis Kapustin
In the 2010’s German neonazis from groups like Die Rechte, a neonazi group that had its origins in banned violent neonazigroups from Dortmund, decided to gather all neonazi fighters across Europe and bring them to Germany so they could have a showcase of their fight abilities. German-Russian neonazi Denis Kapustin decided to invest in such a tournament by making his combat sports gear brand White Rex the main sponsor of the tournament. Kapustin, a MMA fighter himself, had experience in setting up large events in the neonazi scene as he was the singer of a neonazi black metal band that played at his self-organized underground concerts around Europe.
Kapustin was also part of the hardcore neonazi hooligan scene in Russia and was held responsible for violent hooligan attacks on other supporters during the European Championships in France in 2016. Thanks to Kapustin other neonazi hooligan crews from eastern Europe soon started to align themselves with the fight tournament.
Kapustin himself decided to hand over the daily dealings of his fight brand White Rex when he volunteered to fight in Ukraine with other Russian neonazis against Russia. Their connections with the extreme-right Azov Brigade made them receptive to fight the “nationalist” fight against an imperialist Putin. This Russian Volunteer Corps hopes to one day disband the Russian Republic and divide it up in smaller countries based on their respective majority nationalities or ethnicities.
Legio Hungaria
Now that the Russian neonazi hooligan element had entered the tournament other eastern Europe neonazi hooligans decided to join in. Especially the so-called Legio Hungaria became a vital part in organizing not only the Kampf der Nibelungen tournament but others aswell. The small, but violent and active, neonazi hooligans from the Legio were known for their anti-semitic and racist chants and banners in the Hungarian football stadiums. They travelled with the national team across Europe and made sure their violent message was seen and heard. With the open support from the Hungarian national football team management, closely alligned with Victor Orban, the racist hooligans from Hungary quickly gained a reputation that forced other countries and teams to ban them from their stadiums.
But when the German authorities started to ban the Kampf der Nibelungen year after year the Hungarians quickly stepped in and opened the door for a tournament called the “European Fight Night” in 2023. This gave the European neonazi scene the opportunity to openly organize an event. And organizing events wasn’t just for fun and comeraderie. No, neonazi events are the perfect opportunity to sell merchandise that is deemed illegal in most countries because of its depictions of swastikas or other nazi-idealizing material. It is also the perfect moment to sell LP’s, CD’s and DVD’s from banned neonazi bands or to buy and sell original nazi and SS memoribilia like uniforms, insignias and emblems. And to top it all off it is a good moment to talk about organizing other events like protests, concerts or more violent underground activities like firebombing asylumseeker dwellings.
Pride France
An important third party in organizing neonazi fight tournaments is the French Hammerskin scene. Hammerskins are almost identical to Blood and Honour neonazis but they do not go through membership activities. Just being a violent “skinhead” neonazi who likes beer and nazi-rock concerts is basically enough to be accepted into the Hammerskin community. Hammerskins are spread out across Europe and the US and form unofficial groups that will come together to drink, fight and do illegal violent actions actions percieved enemies from the left or other groups they hate.
One of those Hammerskins is Tomasz Skatulsky, a Frenchman with Polish roots from Lyon. He is a prolific MMA fighter and has his own fight gear brand called “Pride France”. Skatulsky is covered in nazi and SS tattoos and is known for his violent tendencies outside of the ring. He is known to have organized violent marches across several cities in France and is not apologetic about his anti-semitic and racist beliefs. As an organizer he has set up fight tournaments in France under the name “Day of Glory” and “Force and Honneur”. His clothingbrand is very popular across neonazis in Europe and the money earned through his brand helps with organizing events and other activities.
Greece and other countries
Even though the Kampf der Nibelungen is seen as the most important tournament in the neonazi scene there are dozens of other tournaments across Europe. And not only Hungary and France are hosts to such events. Countries like Greece, Bulgaria and Czechia are home to a large amount of violent neonazi hooligan crews who love to measure their fight prowess at national and international tournaments. Local authorities however are not known to have any interest in preventing these kind of events and therefore they attract more and more violent neonazi elements from across Europe every year.
Preperation for war
Some might say that these neonazi tournaments can be a nice outlet for violent thugs. At least they are beating on each other instead of someone else, right? Well, besides what was mentioned before, that these tournaments are a perfect moment for neonazis to come together to buy and sell illegal merchandise and to form new plans for future actions, these tournaments are also seen as a proving ground for streetfighting skills. Neonazi ideology thrives of off dominance in the “streets”. Being able to beat up lefties, immigrants and others is seen extremely important. Fear keeps the enemy in line. If neonazis are able to establish a foothold in public spaces by literally kicking out their opponents it is seen as a first step to national domination. Being able to fight can also be very handy when dealing with police squads at rallies or when violent antifascists confront them at bars, concerts, rallies or otherwise. But in the end of course being able to fight is seen as being ready for war, for being a soldier for a new Reich. A healthy body that is ready for war is seen as the ideal perpetuation of the men of the SS who are genuinely revered as heroes in the neonazi scene, especially in the Blood and Honour and Hammerskin groups.
One problem though
According to some combat sports fighters and instructors who have no links to the neonazi scene there is one error in the philosophy of the Kampf der Nibelungen fighters. Their distaste of training with people with an immigrant background has severely hampered their fighting skill evolution. The combat sports world is known to be very diverse. Men and women from all backgrounds train in these, mostly non-European, combat sports and the top ranks of the fight world are dominated by people with an immigrant background. And this does not only apply to the fighters but also trainers, instructors and coaches.
Depriving themselves of training with or being trained by the best in the business, just because they are not Aryan enough, has an impact on the quality of the skillset neonazi fighters have. Well organized gyms and organizations also keep checks and balances on the quality of training given to professional and amateur fighters and trainers. There are standards, diplomas and tournaments that keep the quality in order.
The lack of quality training and expertise is not the only thing keeping neonazi fighters from being the best fighters out there. The peer-pressure in the neonazi scene, especially the Blood and Honour and Hammerskin ones, to drink large amounts of beer every weekend has a direct effect on the physical conditioning these men have. The mandatory barbeque events where entire pigs are devoured in one go will be detrimental to any fighter’s endurance skills.
On top of all of this it is known that a large part of the neonazi fighter scene loves to take all the steroids in order to pump up their muscles. Being an example of a perfect “ubermensch” has driven the steroid intake for over two decades in the neonazi scene. It has resulted in bad health conditions for a number of prominent neonazis, something that is hidden from the larger neonazi circuit of course. Heartproblems and depressions leading to suicidal thoughts are a direct result of the intake of large dosis of steroids and it is a bigger problem than anyone in the neonazi scene will admit.
2025
Whether or not the Kampf der Nibelungen will take place in 2025 and in what country is still unknown. Meanwhile, smaller tournaments are organized across Europe and merchandise is successfully sold online to young angry men who find themselves attracted to the martial element of the nazi ideology. Social media channels on Telegram are keeping the dream alive that a tournament will take place and the electoral gains of the far-right in Germany, Czechia, France, Austria and other European countries gives the neonazis hope that they will find less and less obstruction from the State.