The sport plays a key role in the recruitment and activities of many white power hate groups.
Sam Polk's photo can be found on his profile page on the BKFC website.
Sam Polk, who goes by the nickname “Blunt Force Trauma,” has notched any major wins since returning from an 11-year absence in April 2023, including a win at a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) event early last month. , has won three games in a row. He appears to have entered these fighting tournaments with a large Sonnenrad tattoo on each side of his chest. The German Nazi Party adopted Sonnenrad, or Black Sun, from Old Norse and Celtic culture. Today, supporters of the white power movement use Sonnenrad to demonstrate their beliefs in public with a symbol that is less intuitively recognizable than the swastika. Beneath Polk's Sonnenrad tattoo is a tattoo of a skull wearing a helmet used by Nazi German soldiers in World War II. The investigation into his relationship with Polk also uncovered a 2019 Facebook profile photo with the text “Asatru, a follower of the old ways” superimposed on it. “Asatru” is a term used outside the White Power Movement, but within the movement it can refer to the Asatru Folk Assemblies (AFA), a form of white supremacist spirituality based in Old Norse and Germanic traditions. It often happens. Members of the neo-Volkish hate group AFA often use Sonnenrad as a symbol of their faith.
MurderTheMedia, a far-right podcasting network, claimed in a Telegram post that it is sponsoring Polk at a BKFC event on March 2 outside Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Co-founded by a group of far-right podcasters, including Proud Boys leader Nicholas Ochs and Nicholas DeCarlo, MurderTheMedia is dedicated to promoting common prejudice against Black people, Jews, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, women, and Muslims. The content is distributed on Telegram. Content on this network is often shared by more extreme sections of the far right, such as neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups. Mr. Ochs and Mr. DeCarlo pleaded guilty in September 2022 to charges of breaking into the U.S. Capitol and obstructing an official proceeding during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. They were sentenced in December 2022 to four years in prison and three years of supervised release, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
At the BKFC event, Polk entered the fight cage wearing a MurderTheMedia branded hat, which he also wore in his pre-fight interview. Through his increased visibility as an athlete, Polk offers his MurderTheMedia the potential to reach a larger audience and sell more apparel. In his March 7 post on his Telegram promoting the product, the MurderTheMedia administrator mentioned the hat in the photo, writing, “The hat on the left is exactly like the one Sam Polk wore when he went out. It's the same,” he wrote.
Hatewatch made multiple attempts to contact Polk for comment on the findings, but was unable to reach him. Hatewatch called phone numbers associated with Polk, sent emails, contacted him via Facebook direct message, and sent a certified letter with detailed questions about the investigation, but received no response. There was no.
'Blunt force trauma'
A still from a video posted on MurderTheMedia's Telegram page on March 3, zooming in on Polk's BKFC battle, with text and Sonnenrad superimposed at the end.
After an 11-year hiatus, Polk will re-enter local MMA competition on April 29, 2023 at the Butte Civic Center in Butte, Montana. Polk reportedly won with body kicks and ground punches 17 seconds into the first round. Polk's next game was on September 22, 2023 at the Adams Center in Missoula, Montana. According to a website that tracks MMA events, Polk won after his opponent tapped the mat in the second round to concede.
Hatewatch spoke by phone with the promoters of the two events in Montana, and neither was aware of Polk's relationship with MurderTheMedia or any possible ties to AFA. One promoter accused neo-Nazis of trying to infiltrate the sport, and another declined to comment on the record and asked Hatewatch not to name him or his organization in our reporting. I told him.
Polk made his debut in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) on March 2 at the Casino in Enoch, Alberta, Canada, in his third fight. BKFC provides Polk with a national audience and high status as a professional fighter. Fighters from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the most prominent MMA league in the United States, are participating in BKFC events.
“We were not aware of any Polk sponsors or sponsors,” BKFC founder and president David Feldman said by phone. [alleged] Connections with these groups. He and other fighters who fight for groups that support white supremacist beliefs are not welcome and will not compete in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. ”
“Repin his sponsors”
A photo of Polk posted on his Facebook page on June 21, 2019 appears to be in support of the Asatru Folk Rally.
Far-right groups have used mixed martial arts for years to promote their racist ideology to a wider audience. Previous Hatewatch reporting identified private gyms in Nashville, Tennessee, whose previous owners hosted neo-Nazi and white supremacist fight clubs, including one Sonnenrad is used in part of the logo. Vice's investigation uncovered the operation of white supremacist fight clubs that host their own fighting events in the United States, Europe, and Australia. These groups, which call themselves “Active Clubs,” use MMA as part of a strategy to build a brand around warrior spirit, brotherhood, and stereotypical views of Western masculinity. Active clubs organize large-scale combat events and invite other neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups to join them. Media2Rise is a white supremacist hate group that works closely with active clubs to produce propaganda videos promoting the movement. Active Club also has its own apparel line to promote the brand.
Murder the Media was co-founded in February 2020 by five far-right podcasters, including Nicholas Ochs, then president of the Hawaii Proud Boys. The podcast network creates live streaming podcasts on alternative technology platforms DLive and Rumble and uses Telegram to reach and grow its audience. The network's content ranges from conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the “deep state” to veiled anti-Semitism and blatant use of racial slurs. Co-founders Ochs and DeCarlo threw smoke bombs at police and broke into the Capitol on January 6, according to a Justice Department press release. Once inside, DeCarlo wrote “murder” before the two filmed themselves smoking cigarettes and took pictures. The door says “Media,” according to a press release.
MurderTheMedia first mentioned being a Polk sponsor in a Telegram post on February 23, 2023. Six days later, the far-right media brand posted a photo of Polk at the airport wearing a MurderTheMedia hat on Telegram. On the day of the game against BKFC on March 2nd, MurderTheMedia apparently posted a still image of Polk's pregame interview on Telegram with the caption, “Sam Polk reappoints sponsor.” The next day, MurderTheMedia shared a video of the Polk game, editing the end to include Sonnenrad and the text “Support whatever they're good at.”
Since announcing the sponsorship, MurderTheMedia has tweeted positive posts about Polk on Telegram, including a video comparing the LGBTQ community to animals, and a racist video that exaggerates and stereotypes the lips, mouth, and nose of black men. images, and ridiculed “law enforcement leaders” for being black.
In response to a March 2 Telegram post about Polk, commenters in the MurderTheMedia chat explained that they believed Polk's tattoos identified him as a neo-Nazi. one user asks: “Does anyone know why he's one of us?” He's just curious. ” A minute later, the same user answered his own question, writing, “Ah, I see, lol Sonnenrad and Deathheads.” Twenty minutes later, someone who appeared to be the administrator of the MurderTheMedia chat on Telegram chimed in and wrote: “He has Scandinavian knots tattooed all over his head.”
Polk's skull tattoo is not technically a death's head, but an image of the skull and crossbones that adorned the uniforms of the Nazi SS, which ran extermination camps, but they look similar, and one of them is from Germany. Features a military helmet. Norse knotting refers to an art form that includes intricate interwoven designs depicting animals, mythical creatures, and geometric shapes, some of which have been adopted by white power groups.
Two hours later, MurderTheMedia shared a video of Polk's previous fight in Butte in a Telegram post with the caption, “Sam Polk knocks out Mexican in seconds.” According to data brokers, Polk's opponent that night was from Montana State. One commenter responded to the post, writing, “White power knock hour only here at MTM.” MTM refers to his MurderTheMedia.
MurderTheMedia shared a video on their Telegram channel after the game on March 2 with the caption, “A word from our man!!!” After the victory!!!!,” Polk said in the video, which was also viewed by prominent neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups. “Thank you all for your support. Let's go to Blunt Force Trauma. Montana is home, baby.”
One supporter responded to the video shortly after it was posted, writing: Long live the victory. ” “HH” is used on the far right as an abbreviation for “Heil Hitler.” The next day, another user responded to Polk's video, claiming that Polk was a member of AFA. The same commenter mentioned Polk and AFA and added: They have good people coming his way. ”
Photo illustration: SPLC
