How to Combat Racists in MMA
By Brandt DeLorenzo on Mar 09, 2008
It’s pretty simple; ignore the physical appearance and listen to the message. It’s no surprise that fighters like King of the Cage fighter Melvin Costa have inked themselves with white power tattoos in an attempt to gain attention from both supporters and protesters of his cliche white power argument. Costa, like most (if not all) white power individuals are looking for someone to influence, someone to infuriate. David Holthouse from the Southern Povery Law Center wrote an article titled “The Last Word” in which he gives Costa more exposure from his interview with Sam Caplan last year. FightOpinion’s Zach Arnold posted up the article on his blog earlier today.
Amongst many topics in the interview, Costa goes on to explain that the swastika tattoo on his chest does have some meaning.
“A swastika, as far as I hold it true to my own, it stands for the purity of my people’s blood … I do believe in the purity, security, and the survival of the white race.”
That’s quite the compelling argument that we’ve all heard a thousand times before. Tell us something new and intellectual, Mr. Costa. Perhaps you should explain a bit deeper into the fact that the origin of Costa is actually Portuguese and Brazilian. Brazilians are Caucasian? According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, 49.9% of Brazilians consider themselves white due to some white ancestry.
But Costa doesn’t come off as the typical ignorant fool. He answers each of Caplan’s questions thoughtfully without making any attempt to demean other races or beliefs – believe it or not. If one were to read his interview without seeing Costa, they might picture a skinny pale student who is just a little lost in life. But Costa, only 26 years old, has spent almost half of his life, 11 years, in jail serving his time for an assortment of charges from burglary to assault.
But then again, do I care about his life in particular? Not really.
Do I ever want to see him fight? Probably not.
Costa is just another fighter who wants to leverage his physical appearance in order to gain attention from fans in MMA. Unless he does have some talent, this whole debacle won’t last long and we’ll be back to regular business as usual. But maybe you are one of those fans who want to see him go down against fighter just for the satisfaction. As for myself, I’d rather just not worry about someone just looking for attention when there’s so much more to look towards in the sport right now.
Filed Under: MMA
I’m glad I’m not the only one who wonders why the hell we’re talking about this guy. I mean, if it was someone who made this comments going into a fight with Rampage or Anderson Silva or Cheick Kongo, I’d be more interested (partly because I’d be really excited to see them get smeared on the canvas), but if it’s a guy who sucks then why should I really care?
I think that this guy has done a great job of garnering himself attention. I just don’t understand why we’re helping.
I have another angle on this I’d like to ask Brandt and/or Josh. I’m not asking this as a (sadly) typical message board challenge, but more in the vein of an MMA roundtable discussion.
Comment has been turned into an article here.
Ah hell, if I was smarter I’d have written this an an article. Where’s MMAOpinion’s “editor” to fix this up for internet use?
(Consider it done!)
The man has a right to fight. Obviously in the sad ignorant world we live in.. most people wont allow him to, because it might jeopardize their company in some way. Which i understand to an extent. Otherwise the man.. should be able ot fight. Who cares what they believe in..or how bad their tattoos are? Has nothing to do with the sport. Hell make him wear a shirt if anything lol. And i like how you brought up religious tattoos. Because though most dont consider a cross and god.. in the same conversation as a swastika. Let us remember that the cross has killed more ppl than anything tied to a swastika ever has. Do you think native americans see a cross and look up to the heavens and rain dance? No i think they get pretty pissed off. But im sure even after everything.. at least they have some balls. So point being. Let him fight!
oh and costa is a latin name… latin MEANS WHITE. spainish ppl are technically white.
And dont forget all the crimes nba players have commited. You dont have to be a stand up guy.. to play sports.
if you dont like you chose to be offended
he has the same right to feel as he wants as you do.
If your so offended by his beliefs…train hard…sign on the dotted line…and fight him! I would much rather have people out in the open with what they believe then keep it quiet. He takes off his shirt…or opens his mouth…you know not to make him the godfather of your kid. But you cant deny him his trade! People are so weak minded! They fear anything they dont agree with! I’d rather argue my point then hide my head or shut my mouth!