White Rex MMA brand: Who are the Neo-Nazi white supremacists determined to attack Vladimir Putin?

An MMA sports apparel that spread race supremacy and extreme right-wing ideologies unlike anything seen in the sport of MMA.

White Rex MMA brand: Who are the Neo-Nazi white supremacists determined to attack Vladimir Putin?

White Rex MMA brand has made an impact in Vladimir Putin-led Russia with their neo-nazi ideologies (Image Courtesy - The Indian Express/Glossary of Extremism)

Every nation on the planet will have its own version of a supremacist group. The Nazis believed in the superiority of their race and attacked the Jews. In the United States, the Klu Klux Klan exacted their brutal measures on African Americans for a long time. However, in Russia, the White Supremacist group has ties to the sport of MMA known as the White Rex.

Despite many people thinking about Russia as a predominantly white country, there are more than 120 ethnic groups in the country. It has a multicultural setting like India or the United States, but one group in particular dislikes the diversity of its country. The White Rex brand was founded in 2008. Their products cater to the fans of combat sports like MMA, Sambo, and boxing. White Rex apparel openly conveys fascist ideology in their clothing lineup with phrases like 88 and Zero Tolerance.

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Khabib Nurmagomedov, Petr Yan, Alexander Volkov, Aleksei Oleinik, and many more have contributed to Russia’s strong base of combat sports. The sport of MMA has a strong base in Russia, and White Rex capitalized on the strong base. White Rex started putting on white-only MMA tournaments in 2011. Far-right activists and white supremacists, believers of 2000 people, attended the event. Most people want to know about their political leanings and how they see Vladimir Putin as their nation’s leader.

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The origin of the White Rex MMA brand

Denis Kapustin founded the brand in 2008. During his childhood, he moved to Germany and got radicalized by the right-wing extremist ideology in Germany. Kapustin had a rise unlike any other and is a popular figure among right-wing extremist groups across Europe.

White Rex Denis Kapustin
Denis Kapustin is the owner of White Rex (Image Courtesy – Al Jazeera)

Kapustin employed his business as a perfect model to attract the attention of the disenfranchised youth in Russia. His rhetoric worked so that the hyper-masculine men and attractive blonde-haired, blue-eyed women felt inclined to join the cause. Without the endorsement of any major MMA figure, Kapustin and the White Rex brand became a mainstay in the culture of Russia.

Did White Rex attack Vladimir Putin-led Russia after the Ukraine invasion?

In 2017, Kapustin allied himself with the contentious Azov Regiment, a neo-Nazi-run ultra-nationalist unit of the Ukrainian National Guard. He relocated to Kyiv and worked as the group’s unofficial MMA envoy for the Azov Regiment. The MMA club was shut down in 2019, but his time in Ukraine continued.

Denis Kapustin Vladimir Putin
Denis Kapustin attacked various parts of Vladimir Putin-led Russia (Image Courtesy – Bloody Elbow/CNN)

The White Rex brand remained immobile after the Russian invasion of Ukraine until 23 March 2023. Kapustin led paramilitary groups into the Belgorod region and launched an attack before retreating. Kapustin opposed Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

His militia also attacked the Bryansk region of Russia, which fatally killed two civilians. Putin deemed this attack as a terrorist attack. Kapustin became the most wanted man on the Russian Intelligence list. His accounts related to the White Rex brand have also been frozen.

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