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You're listening to the Away Days podcast on the ground outside, reporting from the underbelly with me Jake Hanrahan. To watch Awaydays documentaries, go to YouTube dot com slash at away Days TV.
This is part one.
No Rules Is No Rules, Episode three. This podcast in the production of h Lemon Studio and.
Call Zone Media.
It's a few months since the FPVS fighting can and now I'm in Germany or just about mate, we're.
In the middle of nowhere is that the term.
I'm driving through a rundown town right on the border with Strasbourg, trying to find the occasion of another No Rules underground event. There were green hills and traditional scenic villages here and there on the drive in, but the final destination is honestly a bit of a tip reminds me of home. Everything's gray concrete and dying retail parks, lad stood on corners and arguments and alleyways.
It's a long long way.
From hipster Berlin, a place where I got laughed at by a guy with a waxed mustache when I ordered a black coffee earlier. In contrast, this morning, in this border town, an old fellow wanted to fight because he felt I'd parked too close to his car. It's a long way from Berlin. Indeed, this place is probably perfect for cross country smuggling, destitution, drugs, and a poorous border with France. I'm not too surprised there's an underground fight club here. We're a long way from Cannes as well.
The fight club I'm heading to is called Frontier, perhaps named after the Franco Alamande Frontier border cross into the west of the city. Frontier is much more of an illicit organization than FPVSTPVS, for example, has the tagline just do sport and no one gets paid. Frontiers tagline is respect of the streets and fighters do get paid, not much, but they get something, whether at least opposed to moren that. Later, the GPS directs me out of the city and onto
the outskirts. I drive through a small rural town and pull up to a long dirt road. Fight club is this way. Halfway down the track, there's a pit stop restaurant with a few heavy you stood outside, tall fellas with thick necks, sunglasses and a scary tracksuits. I pull up next to them and wind down my window. Blonde guy with a back he could break a chair on. Comes up to the car. He nods slightly, asking what I want. Do you know where the fights are?
I ask?
He laughs and looks around, kind of uncertain. Maybe he thinks I'm a cop. He takes a drag of his cigarette the fight. He asks, Yes, I'm here to see Lavvy. I say, Lavvy is the guy who runs Frontier. Ah, says Blondie. He nods, it's all good. He points to a fairly large but otherwise inconspicuous building in the near distance. It sits opposite some horse stables, which are obscuring most of the structure. But I can see where to go. A park up on the side of the road and
get out the car. Everything is rock, gravel and mud underfoot. The building looks like a British workingman's club or an old function hall, Beige, drab, forgettable. It's tucked away, just off the road, surrounded by forgotten allotments and overgrown fields. If you use to fancy things, you might think the area is completely abandoned. It's not, though life goes on. It's just an under the table sort of location. I text Lavvy. He calls to say he'll be out in
a bit. As I wait, more cars start arriving, black range rovers with black windows, boy racer hatchbacks, white work vans, vehicles for activities other than driving. Lovvy shouts over to me from the hall entrance and comes strolling over here.
Is it yes, exectly middle of nowhere? Yes, executive.
He's wearing a black face covering pulled up to his eyes and a bright red zip up jacket with the frontier logo embroidered into it. His hair is shaved short, and he's about six foot. He's slim but built like a fighter. He approaches me warmly and we shake hands. Lobby is upbeat and immediately friendly. In the back of his head, he's got a cab. All cops are bastards tattooed in large black letter with a butterfly knife underneath. It's a real career and the type of tattoo it's incredible.
I love that in the.
Back of your head, man, I'll tell us some beautiful.
Lobby is instantly likable. There's zero front and no foot to come across toff. In my experience, it's guys like this who are actually about it. He's nice, but I'm sure he'd have my skull caved in if needs be. He tells me that outside of the fight clubs, he works at security, which could mean many different things. Immediately inside the building, there's an entrance hall where four men wearing balaclavas are stood waiting. They're each holding a baseball
bat underground security. They nod at Lava and me and we're fine. Nobody search needed when the boss man is it. The security guy's waivers passed through two double doors into the main hall. Inside there's noise and lights and people filling in through an unseen back entrance. All along the edges there are permanent booths with tables here and there. On the walls, there's framed generic mail order arts, jazz bands in Italian kitchens. Fluorescent ceiling bulbs keep everything thing
washed out. At the back of the room there's a small bar, and through that there's a corridor to a smaller function room. This place is a social club, only it's being transformed. In the middle of the room, there's a makeshift ring made of heavy duty Herris fencing. The portable galvanized steel frames you get on the perimeter of a building site. They are about ten foot tall. With fence blocks and clips holding them together. The fights take
place inside this improvised arena. The floor is flat concrete. As I'm walking through the room with lav a spot and no rules. Fighter from back home in the UK, it's bash. Apparently he's fighting today. He notices me and comes over to say hi happily. Over the next half hour, the social club is converted into the fight club. There will be around five or six fights today. A big
frontier banner is cable tied to the fences. There's maybe one hundred people inside now, dozens of them with large face tattoos, big guys, and big jackets, many in balaclavers. I get chatting to one of the fighters who tells me these people are largely members of serious organized motorcycle gangs. I can believe it. I spot more than a few Hells Angels, one percent of tattoos, and various other motorcycle
gang logos. The crowd is heavy. There are contingents here that are definitely not friends, but for now the fighting is contained. This is a far cry from the young rogues of FPVS.
This is a fight.
Club with a much stronger criminal element. If you fuck around in here, in this nowhere town border area. You might just vanish. Lava's weaving in and out of the crowd of rapid pays trying to get things organized. A DJ is playing ship music and everyone is chatting non stop. There's an electric in the air. Fighters are sat around with their respective groups. Hands are getting wrapped, limbs are getting stretched. Today is a big one. It's the first time ever the women will be taking part in a
no rules fight club. Two female fighters are planned with around four male fights as Labby heads outside to check the cops are not sniffing around and grabbing for a second, to talk about frontier What is frontier respected the streets?
Frontier respect off the streets are something who what we built from the first fighter was the first fighter had a problem with other people in the ghetto of Strasbourg. Then we was fighting and after that we're filmed more and the Corona played us Willy in the cards because the jobs was not any more there. We come all from the street, from the security at the erotic business and other things, and that's why Corona closed all.
So we was boring.
Also because we trained together, we worked at a door together, and that's why we fought because it was also boring and with that we tried to come up.
So basically, Lovey and his entourage were involved in running security for strip clubs and or maybe brothels in this area. When COVID hit and shut things down, those illicit businesses mostly fell apart. At the same time, love had an issue with some lads in Strasbourg. His crew went over. Lovey had a fight and someone decided to film it.
From this frontier was sort of accidentally born. With himself and a load of violent heavies out of work, Lovey decided to form the Fight Club, essentially just to give them an outlet whilst there was fuck all to do during COVID.
And what's happening today today?
You will see blood, you will see crazy fights. Yes, and so god will nobody will die? Yes?
Why is it like underground fighting is becoming really popular in Europe?
Now? Why do you think that is?
It's like a game, you know, we are still kids like that, we want to play. Yes, it's a special thing, you know. Not everybody does it. Everybody make maybe box and all we respect all the spots.
But that is other. When you make a mistake, it's over.
No referee say hey, come up again and blah blah blah.
It's more brutal.
It's more brutal. Yes, so these.
Fights happening today, no rules, it says, no rules. What does that mean?
Completely with no rules?
So buying yes, exactly, high gouge yes, kick yes, like.
In the street. You have to win, you have to survive. Nobody ask in the street because the honor.
You know, you guys are selling this like pay per view, right, some people can watch it. How does that work out? It does it make money for you guys?
It should be because it's much work inside and when you think about all the hours, all the days we put inside. Also we have also families. For myself, I have two daughters. I take that time for the club, you know, and it have also to pay because at the end I have discussions with my family, why you don't have time blah blah blah, you know, and for that I want also a little bit for myself. And yes, but it's not about it's not really about money.
Of course.
It all costs really much to make that, to get the people here at that and that and.
It small passion, passion, it's passion because I make that.
Now we make that no three years and there was nothing big money, you know, And we have discipline because we see the goal and one day it will be yes.
So for lovely things are a little different. He wants to make money from this.
He has to.
He's put a lot of time and effort into organizing the fight club, so why shouldn't he read the benefits today? View it all across the world, although mostly Europe, will be able to pay around ten euros to watch several No Rules fights live and direct from Frontier Livey himself won't be fighting, but unlike some of the other fight clubs, he the leader of Frontier, has fought before as part of his own No Rules fight club.
I fought four times here on my own, but I think, you know, I should give other people the chance because I'm also we make that, so we are in the business, so I don't I don't have also to fight, and I don't want a personal thing only about me.
It's about the fighters, you know.
And yes, no rules fighting as far as somewhere like it's very illegal, right what would happen if like the police came down here or whatever.
Then many people run. Yes, it's like that.
Really you're not worried about like them coming after your rest, and.
I would be stupid if I'm not worried, you know.
But it's like, yes, it's like that, we've we respected and all. But if it happens, then it happens. Yes, we are prepared for that, but you're never safe. Yeah, So no risk, no fun, no champagne.
Your security guys who got like bats and weapons and they're searching people. Is they usually trouble from outside at these things?
Not really, But you have to be careful because we are many different groups, many different characters, and we want to be safe just in case.
Yes, exactly.
Some people say like this stuff.
People say this is too brutal, You shouldn't be doing it, it's dangerous, blah blah blah.
What do you think about that?
I think everybody have to decide that for his own And of course it's brutal, it's all that things, you know, But there are some people, you know, there are soldiers, and there are people who are normally us, and you have to decide for yourself what side you are. And in some people it grows. They cannot stop that, they cannot make in the office. No, they make that and other people are in the office. We need both of the people, you know, but we are from the other side.
You couldn't do that, right, You couldn't go to normal work the you prefer fighting. Yes, If that wasn't clear, Lovey points out something that I think is pretty interesting here. He acknowledges that brutal no rules fighting is of course not for everybody, but he also says the more sedentary office work and nine to five type lifestyle is also not for everybody. It's not for them, that's for sure. However, he also says that we need both types of people
in this world. Unlike most of the people I've spoke to in regards to no rules fight clubs, I think love is probably onto something yin and yang in the most violent way possible. The events start today, right, So there's people come in all over from all over. What kind of people are coming to fight? How do you get hold of them? How do they contact you?
The underworld? Yeah, it's underworld.
Yes, what do you think it's gonna happen today? If you're good?
I hope so, I hope.
So it will be a massive yes, and the most thing, of course, it will to be brutal, but I would like if I would say, I hope that something happens really like an accident. You know, we are happy when the people after can drink a beer, check you cola and are happy, you know, and have Maybe I like that, okay, but we also don't want that. That's why we have to be really careful because it's a concered ground, right.
You don't want anyone to like be like damaged for life, of course not.
We love to fight, Yes, it's the fight.
What do you think like King of the Streets you guys call with them?
Of course, of course they are of that.
Again, all roads lead to King of the Streets. To properly understand no rules, I need to go to a Cots fight. It's very, very difficult for reporters though. The leader is extremely paranoid and does not allow anyone in that's close to the media. Cotts is about as hardcore as it gets in this scene. In some of their videos, they even brandish firearms, and I don't mean handguns. I'm talking semi or traumatic rifles. In Europe, that is a big deal. You don't get hold of such weapons unless
you're well connected in the criminal underworld. Anytime I've reached out to Kots. They don't reply. I wouldn't reply either. Where there's a will, there's a way. Whilst Frontier is hardly doors open for anyone, it was definitely easier to get this access. I showed Lava Lord of my previous work, and he believed in the ethos of the Away Day's project as a whole. Once that was sorted and a few people vouch for me, it was on. So Here I am on the outskirts of Germany, waiting for the
fights to begin. I noticed two of the women fighters getting ready. One is very short, with big fake eyelashes, a leopard print face tattoo, and lots of lipstick. She's dressed in a bright red Frontier tracksuit with black leather high heeled boots, and she's still very short. Her vibes are incredible. She's very nervous, so I decided to leave
a bee and speak to her after the fight. One of the other fighters is getting her hands wrapped in tape, knuckles bare, but hands secured so us to help from breaking. She's tall, lean and with face, hand and neckattoos. She goes by the nickname Agro Terror. She seems shy, but she's happy to talk. She tells me she works at a bar and says she wants to fight to prove something to herself. Can she do it? Is she brave enough? I ask her what she thinks about doing this in
such a male dominated world. Some men, no doubt in this scene, would say that women should not do no rules without skipping a beat. She simply replies, well, those men.
Should shut up. I laugh, she laughs.
I wish her good luck and I let her be as she goes to get prepared for the fight. Suddenly I see Bash making a beeline for me through the crowd. He looks distressed, with the only Brits here, so maybe there's some solidarity, but in this crowd there's absolutely fuck all I can do if there's trouble. But Bash explains basically he's worried about one of the other women who are fighting. I've not seen her yet, but he's telling me he's offered to give her money. Why, well, it's
convoluted and Bash has unfortunately been drinking. But essentially what he tells me at least is that the opponent picked for agro Terra is a Romanian German single mother down on her luck. She's apparently only fighting for the money so she can help her kids. She doesn't train, apparently, and she has no real experience, whereas agro Terra does mma. Bash is visibly upset about this. I can see why
it's hardly an even match if this is true. Whilst no rules might be a deeply underground activity, generally equal ability fight to the norm. If not to be fair, then to be entertainment. Scott for example, usually only has the best of the best at their events. It's rare to see someone trampled over in a minute, if what Bash is saying it is true, though we could see that happen with the first female no rules here at Frontier. Something doesn't seem right. Fash wanders off to speak to
his wife. He's flown up with him as usual. Soon he's got to fight a lad known as Underdog. This guy has been shadow boxing in a corner with his earphones in the whole time we've been here. Underdog looks about half Bash's weight, but he's lighting his feet and looks pretty able. With Bash's experience, though, he should steam through Underdog easy well if he can sober up fast. The last groups of people filter in through the front
after being frisked. At this point, when everyone's in, Lavy checks the curtains are drawn and announces that all the doors have now been locked were shut in. No one will be coming in or going out whilst the fights are taking place. It's kind of ominous, but it also makes sense in regard to security. There's a ton of criminals in here, including biker gangs, drug dealers, hooligans, and street fighters. Not to mention the illegal underground fighting taking place.
You want as few people messing around outside as possible in case police drive by and check what's going on.
It's packing here.
The whole crowd is going wild. People grab hold of the Herris fencing and rattle it non stop. It sounds like thunder. The energy here is a lot different to FPVS. I think the crowd here is more dangerous than the fighters. Every creed, color, and orientation of criminals is here. There were big dogs on big chains, two men in balaclavas, and women with their partners names tattooed across one side
of their forehead. This is the underworld. People here have chosen to live outside of society, for better or worse. The first fighters approach the fenced off area, two lads in their twenties lightweight.
The fight is unremarkable, honestly.
To well win the wind milling hooks that mostly miss lasts about two minutes. But then after that fight comes Bash. The fence parts. Lavvy strides in. Bash follows, Underdog follows. The latter is a local lad and clearly a crowd favorite. Group of around a dozen young men in tracksuit some bandanas pulled up to their eyes, goes crazy for him. One of them next to me grabs me in excitement, jumps up and down. They cannot wait. Underdog looks ready.
Bash is honestly looking a little worse for wear. The confidence he walked with when I first saw him fighting Hastings is gone. If anything, he looks a little weary. He keeps touching his face and saying fucking hell under his breath as he enters the makeshift arena. For all his faults. I like Bash, honestly, I want to see him win. On the run up to the fight, he was saying online that he's planning to bite off Underdog's ears.
That energy door it seems long gone. He's holding himself in a way that says he just wants to get this over with. Underdog, The younger man, by at least a decade, is still full of beans ready to go.
The two fighters meet in the middle.
Bash pushes forward, hands down and throws a very badly timed kick. Underdog catches it with his shin and Bash instantly goes down, falling over himself, hitting the concrete. Underdog kicks it in wildly, mostly missing, sometimes kicking Bash's legs as he spins around on his back trying to find some kind of way to get up. Underdog leans over, Bash punches him in the head a few times, and then toe punts him straight in the face. Bash's head snaps back a bit and he's knocked out. Kind of
Lavvy moves in and ends the fight. Bash remains unconscious on the floor or something like that. Honestly, from here, it looks to me as if Bash is just pretending to be Kaot.
It's weird.
Lavvy and a woman with a bandana covering her face dragged Bash out by his arms with his head slumped and eyes.
Now.
I don't want to speculate too much, but something seems fishy about this. Okay, Bash has taken a ton of losses and no rules, but this just felt way too easy. I'm not convinced he was actually knocked out. Underdog, though, is jumping around, running to each part of the fence and celebrating as if he just beat Mike Tyson in one round. It all feels a bit strange to me, but either way, the crowd is going insane. Their boy has won in less than a minute against a quote unquote no rules legend.
I don't know, it feels weird.
After a brief interlude, the first female fight of the night begins. Agro Terror steps through the crowd. She looks nervous but poised. Her competitor, a woman named Hattie, is also now making her way to the circle. She's about a foot shorter than Agro Terror. She's Kirby Compact and has a dark hair tied up in a ponytail. Her hands are partially wrapped with tape, and for some reason, so are her feet. She's wearing no shoes or socks, which is unusual. Hattie looks completely out of her debt.
I'm unsure if she even fully understands what's about to happen. She walks by me and stands there looking into the fencing. She catches my eye for a second, and I don't know what to even say, so I just smile and nod and I say good luck, You'll be fine, idiot. Hatti steps through the fencing. She's first inside. I wrote Terror, followed shortly after Labby talks up the fight.
She come to cant to night hair.
I'll don't try complain that.
And it all begins.
Immediately, I wrote Terror lands a low kick followed by a swift jab straight.
Into Hattie's jaw.
Her head whips back and she has the look of someone who's never been hit before in her life. She seems dazed and shocked, but only for a moment. Quickly, Hatti reaches out and grabs agro Terra by the scruff of her neck. After some grappling, the two end up scrabbling on the concrete. Hatti manages to flip herself over and as Agrotera locks her arms.
She literally lifts her up fully off of the floor.
Turns out Hattie as strong as fuck. She repositions herself and tries to lock agro Terror's arm. Hatti falls back, though, and in the struggle for dominance, she ends up laid out on her front. Agro Terra seizes the opportunity, jumps up and begins punching Hatti in the side of her head from behind. Flabby quickly runs in and ends it. Patti lost, but only just.
It was not the blood barb I thought it might be.
I dare say with some training and experience, Hatti would have plowed through a ro terror easily. The two women are relatively unscathed. They held each other and both celebrate their achievement. The first female no rules underground fight. The crowd loves it. The second women's fight goes quick. The short woman with the leopard print face tattoos I spoke about earlier is named Miry. She fights a woman named Dilek,
who is much bigger than her. Miry starts to fight off like a rocket, kicking, punching, grabbing, hair pulling completely non stop until Lavy breaks up the fight quickly. Her competitor had no clue what she was doing. The frontier fights were pretty energetic, concertainly wild in their own way. By a feeling, some easy opponents were picked out for favored fighters. Something just didn't see it right with me.
The whole way things were off. When I get back to England, I get a text from Joey, remember the up and coming Welsh street fighter from episode one. Joey has news. He's seemingly ecstatic. I give him a call and he's bouncing off the walls even more than usual. All of his dreams have come true.
Somehow.
Joey has been invited to fight on the number one No Rules fight club in the world, the most notorious, the most hardcore, the most exclusive, king of the streets. We'll see more of Joey in the next episode. The final part of No Rules is No Rules. You've been listening to the Away Days podcast Next week episode four. To watch independent Away Days documentaries, subscribe to our channel at YouTube dot com slash at away Days TV. Your Wait Days podcast is a production of H eleven Studio
for Cool Zone Media. Reporting, producing, writing, editing and research by me Jake Hanrahan, co producing by Sophie Lichterman, Music by Sam Black, sound mixed by Splicing Block. Photography by Johnny Pickup and Louis Hollis. Graphic design by Laura Adamson and Casey Highfield.