May 27, 2025 • 28 mins
Hi, Sad Oligarch fans! We want to share a new show, Away Days: Reporting from the Underbelly.
Away Days Podcast is an episodic documentary series focused on unreported stories from the fringes of society. We’re compassionately documenting the underground without watering it down or editorially obscuring it. This is independent journalism with no filter. Real, raw, and ugly. Journalist Jake Hanrahan, the host and creator of Away Days has spent the last 10 years embedded in places he’s not meant to be. With unique access and a straightforward style of on-the-ground reporting, the listener will be taken deep into the places they didn’t know existed.
Episode 2: No Rules on the Riviera
We travel to the south of France to see if a new clandestine No Rules fight club is the real deal. The underground fighters who’ve supposedly set this one up claim it’s in the most luxurious city in France—Cannes. Either we’ve been trolled or the No Rules scene really is spreading everywhere…
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Causer Media.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
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
(00:28):
No Rules, Episode two. This podcast is a production of
H eleven Studio and Call Zone Media. I leave the
hotel at eleven pm and jump in the rental card
(00:49):
that I've got. The guy at the desk said he'd
upgraded me, given me a much bigger car for camp.
Turns out the streets and can a very narrow and
the likelihood of scratching a car increases significantly when said
car is upgraded to being much bigger. Clearly he was
looking to pocket the deposit. Let me just tell you
(01:12):
they really hate Brits here in the south of France.
I take my time driving through the night, following the
map to get to the destination this victor fella sent
me earlier. I drive up steep hills and I can
see the sparkling lights of the harbor in the distance,
where celebrity yachts bob up and down. The roads here
(01:33):
are dark. The few street lights that are installed on
this steep incline illuminate only big gates with high walls.
This is a compound type community for people that make
huge profits. Even in the dark. The area seems quiet, discreete,
and affluent. After about ten minutes, are pulled to a
stop at the location. It's a turning circle at the
(01:56):
top of a hills, surrounded by fenced off wasteland, characteristic
for the opulence of the rest of this area. A
message Victor, I'm here. He's seen it. No reply, though
I sit around waiting. This is surely a ruse. They're
laughing now about how they tricked the nosy reporter me
into traveling to can into a rich gated community. No
(02:20):
less to see a no rules fight on concrete. I'm
sure of it. I get out the car and wander
around the street. Lights are dull here, but enough to
illuminate the Waldorf housing compounds connected to the wasteland. It's
the tail end of a wealthy street, but with a
few strangely abandoned buildings on the wasteland, no doubt ready
(02:43):
to be torn down by developers. My phone buzzes Victor.
Two minutes. I head back to the car and wait.
Sure enough, a small black VW pulls up the hill,
headlights and blur faces.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Inside. The car is full.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
It pulls to a stop near me, and Lad's dressed
in all black hop out. They look around. They seem paranoid.
A few of them are wearing black face masks. One
has sunglasses on. Past midnight. I exit my car wearily
and greet them. They nod, say hi, and then two
of them tell me their names. It's Victor and Leon.
(03:24):
Thank god, it's not a scam. I'm not allowed to
record at this point, but in thick French accents, they
explain in English that they just wanted to meet me
before the fight tomorrow. They seem more nervous than I am.
But the fight is actually real and it will be
taking place in one of the abandoned buildings behind the
(03:44):
spiked fence of the wasteland. Honestly, I can't think of
a worse place to hold an illegal underground fight. But
they explain that not everything in can is Rolex and Hollywood.
The palm trees, the yachts, the red carpets. That's all
the rich folk to and can into a playground for themselves.
They say there's another side to the city. Though that's
(04:06):
where these guys are from. Lower income, drugs and inequality.
Due to the ultra wealthy buying up the land and
the luxury bricks and water can property prices rise even
for those living below the breadline. The richest ten percent
of people in France owe nearly half of all the
money and property in the country. As you can imagine,
(04:29):
the beauty of the southern French coast is a huge
magnet for this abundant wealth, and so Leon and Victor
explained to me that there's a deeper reasoning for them
to hold an illegal, violent exit society type event inside
the belly of the Beast. They tell me that this
is their way of taking back their city. Gentrification and
(04:52):
movie stars might push them out of their own homes,
but they won't stop them turning up and taking over
one of their abandoned buildings for a no rules fight.
There's some defiance to this, as they explain it, their
focus isn't necessarily political. It's just a very straightforward fuck
you to a society that's happy to abandon them.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I quite like these lads already taking back something unavailable
to them due to hyper plutocracy, even if just for
a moment, is quite appealing. I've seen my own town
back in England become more and more expensive while conditions
get worse and worse. Why because rich yuppies from London
are able to buy a nice but cheap houses near
(05:33):
the train station and commute one hour into the city
for work. Problem is they spend next to no money
in our town and simply use it as a place
to sleep. We got all the negatives of a dying
town and none of the questionable positives of gentrification. It's
not exactly the yuppies fault, but it's nonetheless excruciating to
(05:53):
see the council try to rebrand the shitthole as a
business hub while working families from the area get poorer
and poorer. I like the idea of Leon and Victor's
fight club. I agreed to head back in the morning,
very early in the morning, though, they said like in
four hours. They want it to be low key before
the rich folk wake up. I head back to my
(06:14):
hotel and set about ten alarms. After a few hours
of trying to sleep, my first alarm goes off.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Great.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I couldn't sleep. Honestly, I'm pretty buzzing to see my
first properly organized no rules fight club, as opposed to
just two lads meeting up like Joey and Bashtid. I
get ready, first down about a pint of coffee, and
drive up to the gate community where the fight will
take place. As the sun rises, the beauty of the
(07:00):
is visible from every corner of the winding roads up
to the fight area. The view alone must add an
extra fifty grand to the house prices here must be
incredible to wake up to that.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Every morning.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Drive up the hill and the total and complete contrast
dawns on me, the safe, sanitized, wealthy neighborhood and the
organized ultra violence that's about to take place. It's perfect.
No rules is more than just fighting. I pull up
to the wasteland and I can see it all now.
A few broken down buildings behind, a spiked iron fence,
(07:36):
overgrown shrubbery in every direction, a huge concrete water tower nearby.
It's a strange mess at the highest point of what's
otherwise a beautiful place to live. One of the lads
steps out from the makeshift fight venue, all in black,
head to toe, balaklava hood up emotions for me to
come through a bent out gap in the railings. So
(07:58):
I jump out the car and off I go up.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
How are you doing? No bad? Three? The gap is
the arena fight over here.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, it's a crazy view.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
There's a lot of people who around here. No worry
about the police. You didn't catch that.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I said that, you're not worried about the police, and
Victor said, we're gonna say proper delinquents. As for the building,
it's a crumbling concrete block with two floors. It's maybe
an old observation post. Everything is covered wall to wall
with random graffiti. All the windows are put through and
some of the stairs are falling down the floor though,
(09:00):
oh it's spotless. Whilst I was trying to sleep, this
group of young French terrorways spent last night getting the
place ready. They swept out the broken glass and piles
of rubbish and what the concrete ground till it shined.
They're very proud of it. This is their first proper
event as the recently formed No Rules Fight Club, which
now has a name FPVS. What FPVS stands for is
(09:26):
hard to translate properly into English, but it basically means this,
don't come around here. Trying to suck our dicks when
we get big. No, I am not joking. That is
about the clearest interpretation you can get. Two lads who
founded FPVS. Victor and Leon are both twenty years old,
(09:48):
and they look it. Neither of quite grown into their
frames yet, and they're hardly the typical street fighters you
might think of. But they're lean, alure and they hold
themselves in a way that shows they're probably prone to mischief.
Despite being up all night getting things ready, they're still
full of energy or cocaine or a mix of both.
(10:08):
Either way, they cannot wait for the chaos.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
What is it about fighting that you love?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Sodri and Alindra, You don't have any another problem or
you're just think to fight, concentrate and we love comportation
and see who's the best.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Leon has an air of old school French arrogance about
him when he speaks, he's quite a lot like the
guy that upgraded me with the big car. He's aloof
shrugs a lot, that's just him. Victor is the opposite.
He can't help but be friendly and candid. They were
not duo, but it works. Both are well organized, highly motivated,
(10:44):
and they both love fistfighting in a world that thinks
they shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I can express myself nothing, the fact to help people,
in the fact of extra vertin energy inside me. The
society always you always be counted by people you can't
really explore. And when there is no one, no rule,
and no glove, you're just free, like you're just one
and one, No no knife, no, just and one and one.
(11:09):
And we see like it's the greatest thing. I think
it's the best you.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Feel like you said that, like society is always telling
you like calm down, calm down. Do you think there's
something inside you that, like inside everybody that can't always
do that?
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I think, yeah, I think it's really important because here
it's in a city where they want to show to
people who they are. But there are nobody, you know,
there is rich people in front of the beach.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
There nobody.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
You can't explode, you can't express way hourly inside of you.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So do you do you prefer it? There is a level? Yeah,
I think I think.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I think it's it's grown adrenaline. You know, it's more magical,
like you see when it's legal, like you need to
add two A lot of foul, a lot of nile
of paper. You need to do this to do this. No, no,
we do what we want, what we want, we do.
We don't have any restriction.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
We like our.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Activities, we like our art, and this art it's much
important if it does right away.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
So you see this as like art. You think this
is art. Yeah, that's really interesting. You know.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I don't know the definition of art. But when it's
beautiful and you like it, you're crave it a little bit.
You see it, you're happy a little bit. It's it's
it's a shock for if you want to see people
the body, but it's art.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
It's I don't like the castle. I like this. You
like fighting.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
This is art. I don't like Pocasso. I like this
for young lads like Leon No rules is a kind
of art. The two lads who will be fighting for
FPVS today in can I named Louis and Warren. The
FPVS guys leave me up the stairs to meet them.
(12:58):
The boys in the early twenty and are up on
the remains of the abandoned structure's outdoor patio area, the
shadow boxing, amidst piles of broken glass and concrete debris.
From here I can see the perfect blue of the
French Riviera's coastline. In the near distance, the sun has
risen into a cloudless sky. The famous yachts at the
harbor are twinkling, reflecting the light from the sun. Directly
(13:22):
in front of me, though, on the patio, two thrill
seeking lads are preparing to knock fuck out of each
other as part of an underground fight scene. Even amidst
the beauty of the court Desore, the unapologetic ugliness of
pre arranged violence is most compelling. Several FPVS members, of
which there are around a dozen, help the two fighters
get in the zone. They wrap their hands, hold pads,
(13:45):
g them up. Warren is black, about six foot two, muscular,
lean and as a fighter's gait.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Louis is white, about five.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Nine, skinny, fat, and honestly seems out of his depth.
I ask Louis why he came here, why he's decided
to fight in such a hard core manner.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Why are you going to do this myself?
Speaker 2 (14:07):
To be about the concrete floor, You're not worried about that.
It's quite dangerous, I know. Luck As for Warren, it
looks fine, confident, ready to go. Not nervous, Yes, no,
(14:31):
not nervous.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
First time. Good luck.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
From where I'm standing, the odds don't look great. And
let me tell you, as a teenager, I got my
head kicked in plenty of times. I'm speaking from experience.
This doesn't look great. Warren is shredded head to toe
and Louis looks entirely uncoordinated without any real conditioning. It's,
of course true that muscles don't win fights. With no rules,
(15:00):
anything can happen. But still I feel a bit worried
for Louis. I asked Leon what he thinks about the
clear size difference. Indifferently, he just tells me they weigh
the same. He shrugs it off and reminds me that
Louis put himself here. He contacted the FPVS guys via telegram.
He told them he wanted to fight, so now he's
here to fight. If you can find the right people
(15:23):
and are genuine about fighting, it can be that simple.
Warren and Louis are still warming up with the FPVS crew,
Deryl Mail and all around eighteen to twenty five. There
are a mix of several different races, and each of
them is dressed in a black tracksuit with various different
brands of trainers. They're a blur of night tear Can, Balenciaga,
Berbery and EA seven. Some of them have specially printed
(15:46):
FPVS hoodies and T shirts. They mill around helping fighters,
chatting and rolling splits. So the kind of lads the
upper class of the Riviera probably crossed the road from
They seem jovial enough to me, though when I get
on well with them. Now, I'm obviously an outsider in
this world, but they're all pretty chilled about it. No
one has a real issue with me being there. I
(16:07):
sit chatting to one of the guys as he holds
pads for Louis, who is throwing wayward punches here and there.
The FPVS guys cannot wait for the violence to start.
Then we hear a shout from downstairs.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
It's time.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Leon gathers the fighters and everyone heads down the half
collapsed stairs into the main area where fights take place.
There were two pillars in the center of the room.
Red and white caution tape is wrapped around them loosely
as a means to cordon off the area where the
crowd now stands.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
On the floor.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
In the center, the FPBS logo is spray painted onto
the concrete. A wolf with red eyes. The air smells
like weed, smoke and stale sweat. Everyone inside is buzzy.
Some are Warrent's friends, some are FPBS, and others are
unaffiliated who guns and street fighters who've just come to
watch the show is on. Louis looks nervous. Warren calm.
(17:08):
He cracks his neck and bounces on his toes. Ready
to go, Louis picks up the wraps on his wrist
and clenches.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
His hands tight. He looks extremely uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Leon walks into the center of the concrete room and
signals that everything's ready. The two fighters join him on
each side, and before the balling starts, everyone in the
room sings the French national anthem with their handheld on
their heart, an unexpected show of unity amidst this underground scene.
(17:39):
He goes on and on and on. Everyone in the room,
both masked and not sings along. Everyone but me, of course,
I am British. I want to be sick now, many
joking a bit la masse ends. Finally, the two fighters
(18:06):
bump fists and head to opposite corners of the room.
Leon signals by nodding at Victor. Victor gives the go ahead.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
It's on. Fight.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Two fighters meet each other in the center. Louis throws
a badly timed roundhouse kick. The bounce is clean off
of Warren's leg. Warren throws two jabs straight into Luis's face,
catching his chin, his day.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
His guard drops.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Warren shifts in, grabs Louis, picks him up, drops him
down to the concrete. Louis tries to throw some defensive punches,
but Warren is all over him like a dog. He
rains down elbows into Louis's face. Louis goes feetle covering
up his head. Leon moves in from the sidelines, ready
to see if the fight needs to be ended. The
crowd is wild with excitement. They want blood. Warren continues
(18:49):
dropping elbows. A few miss, a few smash into Louis's
forehead and temple. Louis throws up his hands and taps
the floor. He's done. Leon grabs warr pulls him off
of Louis.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
The fight is over.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Louie is helped up offer the concrete by FPVS lads.
Wilt's bruises and bumps already pat in his face. He's
got blood at his lips. He's well and truly beaten,
but he's smiling, so is Warren. The two fighters embraced sincerely,
and the crowd cheers even Louder win or lose respect
(19:27):
in this world is essential.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
You're brave man.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
The fight lasted about one minute total. Louis got battered,
but I'm not sure the outcome really mattered that much
for him. He showed up, which counts for a lot
when you consider the stakes. That's part of the notoriety
of this. There's something uniquely daring about no rules. You
could end up permanently disfigured, brain damaged, or dead, way
(19:53):
easier than every other combat sport. No rules isn't sport.
Ask Louis how he's feeling in as makeshift fpvs. Medics
whoever's holding the plasters an antiseptic tend to his wounds.
He tells me he feels good. He says he lost,
but that's part of it. He's got blood in his
mouth and knuckles of graze the skin around his eyes.
Bit will live. Could have been a lot worse. No
(20:16):
serious damage. I'm joking. I asked what his family might
think when he comes home with his face backstop. Louis
pauses for a second, then he laughs and says, don't
tell my mother. In contrast, Warren is completely unscathed, not
a mark, He's barely even broken a sweat. He tells
me he traveled overnight for this and months to fight again.
(20:38):
He's an ice lad. That both are pretty normal other
than this, outside of the chaos of clandestine fighting. Warren
works as a laborer on a building site, and Louis
is a waiter in a restaurant. These violent young men
build homes and serve food. They keep the world turning.
The clandestine FPVS event was success. News of the fight
(21:00):
club is spreading fast across France, already all across Instagram
and Telegram. Afterwards, I head down to a pub in
the city with Leon and Victor, out of one world
into another. Hours ago we were in the bando watching
two fighters try to incapacitate one another. Now we're in
central can amongst Rolex shops, PALMDI or Smam and the
(21:22):
ugliest Italian sports cars ever built of Aguinness. The FPVS
lads tell me how they're different to cots and that
they never pay anyone to fight. No one involved gets
a penny. If anything, they're in a deficit after preparing
it all. It's just for sport, they say, somewhat ironically. However,
(21:42):
Leon and Victor explain to me that whilst they're different
from Cots, they are of course inspired by them. All
of the new Noruls fight clubs across Europe wouldn't exist
if it wasn't for them. All roads lead to King
of the Streets.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Before they start King of the Streets.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Hype Crew was one of many active football who look
in firms in Europe. They'd meet mostly in the fields
and forests of Scandinavia, fighting their rivals in pacts of
ten against ten, six against six, fifteen against twelve, twenty
five against twenty five, whatever was agreed on between organizers.
This kind of activity takes place in secret all over
(22:24):
the continent every single weekend. It's nothing new. Hype Crew, though,
was when they started fighting. They were unique from the
get go. They were a football who look in firm without.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
A football team.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
They're just all about the violence. This is not as
unusual as it sounds amongst the seeing. It's an open secret.
The plenty of football who logans in Mainland and Europe
don't actually care that.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Much about the football.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
It's the aggression, camaraderie, and sense of belonging that they love.
Football is a base to gather for young men looking
to be part of something the world over. For hooligans,
the fight and sets that in stone. No matter how
advanced or progressive or civilized life gets, it will always
be true that there is something primordally special about forging
(23:15):
bonds of friendship through fighting together. People might say they
have your back, but do they. Perhaps your best friend
remembers your birthday every year, calls you when you're lonely,
and supports your endeavors. But would they stand and fight
if you were attacked? Would they run? Would they abandon
you to get your head kicked in the first majority
of people will never have to find out and probably
(23:38):
don't even think about it. And that's a good thing,
I guess. But things like this don't matter until they do.
For hooligans, they already know their friends would stand and
fight every single time. This is the foundation of their
bond from the get go. It's almost like the course
of a friendship in reverse. The most literal form of
(23:59):
backing your friends is what they begin with. Anything else
is a bonus to your average law abiding citizen. This
is a horrible way to live. They have no decorum, etc.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Et cetera.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
But honestly, who cares They don't They're choosing to live
outside of society.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Now.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
My point is, the reason King of the Streets is
so clandestine, yet so well organized and so influential is
likely because it started off from this base of arranged
fighting hooliganism. Some Hype crew members were hooligans for various
different firms in Sweden before forging their syndicate of what
is essentially a freelance firm with no loyalty to anything
(24:40):
but each other. This, I believe is a big part
of what's kept King of the Streets so consistent and
so well respected in the underground. When I get back
home to the UK, the lads from FPVS contact me
and let me know that everything went well. There haven't
been a rest. All the fighters are happy and their
(25:02):
fight club is getting dozens and dozens of new applications
to fight now that the footage is all across Instagram.
All in all, despite the pretty basic fight, things were
a success. It also turns out the word has gotten
out in the clandestine fighting underground that there's a reporter
trying to make a film about no rules fighting.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Let an old me.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Some don't like it, some don't care, but others are
pretty interested. It seems in general that these people trust
what I'm doing and understand they don't have some snitch
ulterior motive to out them as lunatics or whatever. I'm
just interested. Also, to be honest with you, I don't
really see what's wrong with grown adults deciding to fight
(25:44):
each other consensually in private, in a controlled setting. That's
their business. Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's wrong.
There's also some irony in the way states condemn no rules.
For example, one fighter who's undefeated on cots was banned
from fighting in professional mma in his own country for
(26:06):
doing no rules. The state decided he was too violent. Meanwhile,
that same government sent millions to a foreign country to
assist them in carrying out daily war crimes in the
Middle East. You tell me what's more violent, no rules
fighting or bombing children. Now, I don't mean to be dramatic,
(26:29):
but this is something else I find fascinating about no rules.
It unintentionally exposes human nature's undying connection to violence. No
rules is just unapologetically honest about it.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
As you can probably tell, this is a male dominated scene. However,
I've got words since returning from can that there's about
to be the very very first female no Rules fight.
It will be happening soon in Germany. More on that
in the next episode. If you've been listening to the
(27:15):
Away Days podcast next week episode three. To watch independent
Away Days documentaries, subscribe to our channel at YouTube dot
com slash at Awaydays TV. Your Wait Days Podcast is
a production of H eleven Studio for Cool Zone Media. Reporting, producing, writing,
(27:38):
editing and research by me Jake Hanrahan, co producing by
Sophie Lichtman, music by Sam Black, sound mixed by Splicing Block,
Photography by Johnny Pickup and Louis Hollis. Graphic design by
Laura Adamson and Casey Highfields
Speaker 3 (28:02):
To ass
Causer Media.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
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
(00:28):
No Rules, Episode two. This podcast is a production of
H eleven Studio and Call Zone Media. I leave the
hotel at eleven pm and jump in the rental card
(00:49):
that I've got. The guy at the desk said he'd
upgraded me, given me a much bigger car for camp.
Turns out the streets and can a very narrow and
the likelihood of scratching a car increases significantly when said
car is upgraded to being much bigger. Clearly he was
looking to pocket the deposit. Let me just tell you
(01:12):
they really hate Brits here in the south of France.
I take my time driving through the night, following the
map to get to the destination this victor fella sent
me earlier. I drive up steep hills and I can
see the sparkling lights of the harbor in the distance,
where celebrity yachts bob up and down. The roads here
(01:33):
are dark. The few street lights that are installed on
this steep incline illuminate only big gates with high walls.
This is a compound type community for people that make
huge profits. Even in the dark. The area seems quiet, discreete,
and affluent. After about ten minutes, are pulled to a
stop at the location. It's a turning circle at the
(01:56):
top of a hills, surrounded by fenced off wasteland, characteristic
for the opulence of the rest of this area. A
message Victor, I'm here. He's seen it. No reply, though
I sit around waiting. This is surely a ruse. They're
laughing now about how they tricked the nosy reporter me
into traveling to can into a rich gated community. No
(02:20):
less to see a no rules fight on concrete. I'm
sure of it. I get out the car and wander
around the street. Lights are dull here, but enough to
illuminate the Waldorf housing compounds connected to the wasteland. It's
the tail end of a wealthy street, but with a
few strangely abandoned buildings on the wasteland, no doubt ready
(02:43):
to be torn down by developers. My phone buzzes Victor.
Two minutes. I head back to the car and wait.
Sure enough, a small black VW pulls up the hill,
headlights and blur faces.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Inside. The car is full.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
It pulls to a stop near me, and Lad's dressed
in all black hop out. They look around. They seem paranoid.
A few of them are wearing black face masks. One
has sunglasses on. Past midnight. I exit my car wearily
and greet them. They nod, say hi, and then two
of them tell me their names. It's Victor and Leon.
(03:24):
Thank god, it's not a scam. I'm not allowed to
record at this point, but in thick French accents, they
explain in English that they just wanted to meet me
before the fight tomorrow. They seem more nervous than I am.
But the fight is actually real and it will be
taking place in one of the abandoned buildings behind the
(03:44):
spiked fence of the wasteland. Honestly, I can't think of
a worse place to hold an illegal underground fight. But
they explain that not everything in can is Rolex and Hollywood.
The palm trees, the yachts, the red carpets. That's all
the rich folk to and can into a playground for themselves.
They say there's another side to the city. Though that's
(04:06):
where these guys are from. Lower income, drugs and inequality.
Due to the ultra wealthy buying up the land and
the luxury bricks and water can property prices rise even
for those living below the breadline. The richest ten percent
of people in France owe nearly half of all the
money and property in the country. As you can imagine,
(04:29):
the beauty of the southern French coast is a huge
magnet for this abundant wealth, and so Leon and Victor
explained to me that there's a deeper reasoning for them
to hold an illegal, violent exit society type event inside
the belly of the Beast. They tell me that this
is their way of taking back their city. Gentrification and
(04:52):
movie stars might push them out of their own homes,
but they won't stop them turning up and taking over
one of their abandoned buildings for a no rules fight.
There's some defiance to this, as they explain it, their
focus isn't necessarily political. It's just a very straightforward fuck
you to a society that's happy to abandon them.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I quite like these lads already taking back something unavailable
to them due to hyper plutocracy, even if just for
a moment, is quite appealing. I've seen my own town
back in England become more and more expensive while conditions
get worse and worse. Why because rich yuppies from London
are able to buy a nice but cheap houses near
(05:33):
the train station and commute one hour into the city
for work. Problem is they spend next to no money
in our town and simply use it as a place
to sleep. We got all the negatives of a dying
town and none of the questionable positives of gentrification. It's
not exactly the yuppies fault, but it's nonetheless excruciating to
(05:53):
see the council try to rebrand the shitthole as a
business hub while working families from the area get poorer
and poorer. I like the idea of Leon and Victor's
fight club. I agreed to head back in the morning,
very early in the morning, though, they said like in
four hours. They want it to be low key before
the rich folk wake up. I head back to my
(06:14):
hotel and set about ten alarms. After a few hours
of trying to sleep, my first alarm goes off.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Great.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I couldn't sleep. Honestly, I'm pretty buzzing to see my
first properly organized no rules fight club, as opposed to
just two lads meeting up like Joey and Bashtid. I
get ready, first down about a pint of coffee, and
drive up to the gate community where the fight will
take place. As the sun rises, the beauty of the
(07:00):
is visible from every corner of the winding roads up
to the fight area. The view alone must add an
extra fifty grand to the house prices here must be
incredible to wake up to that.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Every morning.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Drive up the hill and the total and complete contrast
dawns on me, the safe, sanitized, wealthy neighborhood and the
organized ultra violence that's about to take place. It's perfect.
No rules is more than just fighting. I pull up
to the wasteland and I can see it all now.
A few broken down buildings behind, a spiked iron fence,
(07:36):
overgrown shrubbery in every direction, a huge concrete water tower nearby.
It's a strange mess at the highest point of what's
otherwise a beautiful place to live. One of the lads
steps out from the makeshift fight venue, all in black,
head to toe, balaklava hood up emotions for me to
come through a bent out gap in the railings. So
(07:58):
I jump out the car and off I go up.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
How are you doing? No bad? Three? The gap is
the arena fight over here.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, it's a crazy view.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
There's a lot of people who around here. No worry
about the police. You didn't catch that.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I said that, you're not worried about the police, and
Victor said, we're gonna say proper delinquents. As for the building,
it's a crumbling concrete block with two floors. It's maybe
an old observation post. Everything is covered wall to wall
with random graffiti. All the windows are put through and
some of the stairs are falling down the floor though,
(09:00):
oh it's spotless. Whilst I was trying to sleep, this
group of young French terrorways spent last night getting the
place ready. They swept out the broken glass and piles
of rubbish and what the concrete ground till it shined.
They're very proud of it. This is their first proper
event as the recently formed No Rules Fight Club, which
now has a name FPVS. What FPVS stands for is
(09:26):
hard to translate properly into English, but it basically means this,
don't come around here. Trying to suck our dicks when
we get big. No, I am not joking. That is
about the clearest interpretation you can get. Two lads who
founded FPVS. Victor and Leon are both twenty years old,
(09:48):
and they look it. Neither of quite grown into their
frames yet, and they're hardly the typical street fighters you
might think of. But they're lean, alure and they hold
themselves in a way that shows they're probably prone to mischief.
Despite being up all night getting things ready, they're still
full of energy or cocaine or a mix of both.
(10:08):
Either way, they cannot wait for the chaos.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
What is it about fighting that you love?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Sodri and Alindra, You don't have any another problem or
you're just think to fight, concentrate and we love comportation
and see who's the best.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Leon has an air of old school French arrogance about
him when he speaks, he's quite a lot like the
guy that upgraded me with the big car. He's aloof
shrugs a lot, that's just him. Victor is the opposite.
He can't help but be friendly and candid. They were
not duo, but it works. Both are well organized, highly motivated,
(10:44):
and they both love fistfighting in a world that thinks
they shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I can express myself nothing, the fact to help people,
in the fact of extra vertin energy inside me. The
society always you always be counted by people you can't
really explore. And when there is no one, no rule,
and no glove, you're just free, like you're just one
and one, No no knife, no, just and one and one.
(11:09):
And we see like it's the greatest thing. I think
it's the best you.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Feel like you said that, like society is always telling
you like calm down, calm down. Do you think there's
something inside you that, like inside everybody that can't always
do that?
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I think, yeah, I think it's really important because here
it's in a city where they want to show to
people who they are. But there are nobody, you know,
there is rich people in front of the beach.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
There nobody.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
You can't explode, you can't express way hourly inside of you.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So do you do you prefer it? There is a level? Yeah,
I think I think.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I think it's it's grown adrenaline. You know, it's more magical,
like you see when it's legal, like you need to
add two A lot of foul, a lot of nile
of paper. You need to do this to do this. No, no,
we do what we want, what we want, we do.
We don't have any restriction.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
We like our.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Activities, we like our art, and this art it's much
important if it does right away.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
So you see this as like art. You think this
is art. Yeah, that's really interesting. You know.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
I don't know the definition of art. But when it's
beautiful and you like it, you're crave it a little bit.
You see it, you're happy a little bit. It's it's
it's a shock for if you want to see people
the body, but it's art.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
It's I don't like the castle. I like this. You
like fighting.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
This is art. I don't like Pocasso. I like this
for young lads like Leon No rules is a kind
of art. The two lads who will be fighting for
FPVS today in can I named Louis and Warren. The
FPVS guys leave me up the stairs to meet them.
(12:58):
The boys in the early twenty and are up on
the remains of the abandoned structure's outdoor patio area, the
shadow boxing, amidst piles of broken glass and concrete debris.
From here I can see the perfect blue of the
French Riviera's coastline. In the near distance, the sun has
risen into a cloudless sky. The famous yachts at the
harbor are twinkling, reflecting the light from the sun. Directly
(13:22):
in front of me, though, on the patio, two thrill
seeking lads are preparing to knock fuck out of each
other as part of an underground fight scene. Even amidst
the beauty of the court Desore, the unapologetic ugliness of
pre arranged violence is most compelling. Several FPVS members, of
which there are around a dozen, help the two fighters
get in the zone. They wrap their hands, hold pads,
(13:45):
g them up. Warren is black, about six foot two, muscular,
lean and as a fighter's gait.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Louis is white, about five.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Nine, skinny, fat, and honestly seems out of his depth.
I ask Louis why he came here, why he's decided
to fight in such a hard core manner.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Why are you going to do this myself?
Speaker 2 (14:07):
To be about the concrete floor, You're not worried about that.
It's quite dangerous, I know. Luck As for Warren, it
looks fine, confident, ready to go. Not nervous, Yes, no,
(14:31):
not nervous.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
First time. Good luck.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
From where I'm standing, the odds don't look great. And
let me tell you, as a teenager, I got my
head kicked in plenty of times. I'm speaking from experience.
This doesn't look great. Warren is shredded head to toe
and Louis looks entirely uncoordinated without any real conditioning. It's,
of course true that muscles don't win fights. With no rules,
(15:00):
anything can happen. But still I feel a bit worried
for Louis. I asked Leon what he thinks about the
clear size difference. Indifferently, he just tells me they weigh
the same. He shrugs it off and reminds me that
Louis put himself here. He contacted the FPVS guys via telegram.
He told them he wanted to fight, so now he's
here to fight. If you can find the right people
(15:23):
and are genuine about fighting, it can be that simple.
Warren and Louis are still warming up with the FPVS crew,
Deryl Mail and all around eighteen to twenty five. There
are a mix of several different races, and each of
them is dressed in a black tracksuit with various different
brands of trainers. They're a blur of night tear Can, Balenciaga,
Berbery and EA seven. Some of them have specially printed
(15:46):
FPVS hoodies and T shirts. They mill around helping fighters,
chatting and rolling splits. So the kind of lads the
upper class of the Riviera probably crossed the road from
They seem jovial enough to me, though when I get
on well with them. Now, I'm obviously an outsider in
this world, but they're all pretty chilled about it. No
one has a real issue with me being there. I
(16:07):
sit chatting to one of the guys as he holds
pads for Louis, who is throwing wayward punches here and there.
The FPVS guys cannot wait for the violence to start.
Then we hear a shout from downstairs.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
It's time.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Leon gathers the fighters and everyone heads down the half
collapsed stairs into the main area where fights take place.
There were two pillars in the center of the room.
Red and white caution tape is wrapped around them loosely
as a means to cordon off the area where the
crowd now stands.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
On the floor.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
In the center, the FPBS logo is spray painted onto
the concrete. A wolf with red eyes. The air smells
like weed, smoke and stale sweat. Everyone inside is buzzy.
Some are Warrent's friends, some are FPBS, and others are
unaffiliated who guns and street fighters who've just come to
watch the show is on. Louis looks nervous. Warren calm.
(17:08):
He cracks his neck and bounces on his toes. Ready
to go, Louis picks up the wraps on his wrist
and clenches.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
His hands tight. He looks extremely uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Leon walks into the center of the concrete room and
signals that everything's ready. The two fighters join him on
each side, and before the balling starts, everyone in the
room sings the French national anthem with their handheld on
their heart, an unexpected show of unity amidst this underground scene.
(17:39):
He goes on and on and on. Everyone in the room,
both masked and not sings along. Everyone but me, of course,
I am British. I want to be sick now, many
joking a bit la masse ends. Finally, the two fighters
(18:06):
bump fists and head to opposite corners of the room.
Leon signals by nodding at Victor. Victor gives the go ahead.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
It's on. Fight.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Two fighters meet each other in the center. Louis throws
a badly timed roundhouse kick. The bounce is clean off
of Warren's leg. Warren throws two jabs straight into Luis's face,
catching his chin, his day.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
His guard drops.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Warren shifts in, grabs Louis, picks him up, drops him
down to the concrete. Louis tries to throw some defensive punches,
but Warren is all over him like a dog. He
rains down elbows into Louis's face. Louis goes feetle covering
up his head. Leon moves in from the sidelines, ready
to see if the fight needs to be ended. The
crowd is wild with excitement. They want blood. Warren continues
(18:49):
dropping elbows. A few miss, a few smash into Louis's
forehead and temple. Louis throws up his hands and taps
the floor. He's done. Leon grabs warr pulls him off
of Louis.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
The fight is over.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Louie is helped up offer the concrete by FPVS lads.
Wilt's bruises and bumps already pat in his face. He's
got blood at his lips. He's well and truly beaten,
but he's smiling, so is Warren. The two fighters embraced sincerely,
and the crowd cheers even Louder win or lose respect
(19:27):
in this world is essential.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
You're brave man.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
The fight lasted about one minute total. Louis got battered,
but I'm not sure the outcome really mattered that much
for him. He showed up, which counts for a lot
when you consider the stakes. That's part of the notoriety
of this. There's something uniquely daring about no rules. You
could end up permanently disfigured, brain damaged, or dead, way
(19:53):
easier than every other combat sport. No rules isn't sport.
Ask Louis how he's feeling in as makeshift fpvs. Medics
whoever's holding the plasters an antiseptic tend to his wounds.
He tells me he feels good. He says he lost,
but that's part of it. He's got blood in his
mouth and knuckles of graze the skin around his eyes.
Bit will live. Could have been a lot worse. No
(20:16):
serious damage. I'm joking. I asked what his family might
think when he comes home with his face backstop. Louis
pauses for a second, then he laughs and says, don't
tell my mother. In contrast, Warren is completely unscathed, not
a mark, He's barely even broken a sweat. He tells
me he traveled overnight for this and months to fight again.
(20:38):
He's an ice lad. That both are pretty normal other
than this, outside of the chaos of clandestine fighting. Warren
works as a laborer on a building site, and Louis
is a waiter in a restaurant. These violent young men
build homes and serve food. They keep the world turning.
The clandestine FPVS event was success. News of the fight
(21:00):
club is spreading fast across France, already all across Instagram
and Telegram. Afterwards, I head down to a pub in
the city with Leon and Victor, out of one world
into another. Hours ago we were in the bando watching
two fighters try to incapacitate one another. Now we're in
central can amongst Rolex shops, PALMDI or Smam and the
(21:22):
ugliest Italian sports cars ever built of Aguinness. The FPVS
lads tell me how they're different to cots and that
they never pay anyone to fight. No one involved gets
a penny. If anything, they're in a deficit after preparing
it all. It's just for sport, they say, somewhat ironically. However,
(21:42):
Leon and Victor explain to me that whilst they're different
from Cots, they are of course inspired by them. All
of the new Noruls fight clubs across Europe wouldn't exist
if it wasn't for them. All roads lead to King
of the Streets.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Before they start King of the Streets.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Hype Crew was one of many active football who look
in firms in Europe. They'd meet mostly in the fields
and forests of Scandinavia, fighting their rivals in pacts of
ten against ten, six against six, fifteen against twelve, twenty
five against twenty five, whatever was agreed on between organizers.
This kind of activity takes place in secret all over
(22:24):
the continent every single weekend. It's nothing new. Hype Crew, though,
was when they started fighting. They were unique from the
get go. They were a football who look in firm without.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
A football team.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
They're just all about the violence. This is not as
unusual as it sounds amongst the seeing. It's an open secret.
The plenty of football who logans in Mainland and Europe
don't actually care that.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Much about the football.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
It's the aggression, camaraderie, and sense of belonging that they love.
Football is a base to gather for young men looking
to be part of something the world over. For hooligans,
the fight and sets that in stone. No matter how
advanced or progressive or civilized life gets, it will always
be true that there is something primordally special about forging
(23:15):
bonds of friendship through fighting together. People might say they
have your back, but do they. Perhaps your best friend
remembers your birthday every year, calls you when you're lonely,
and supports your endeavors. But would they stand and fight
if you were attacked? Would they run? Would they abandon
you to get your head kicked in the first majority
of people will never have to find out and probably
(23:38):
don't even think about it. And that's a good thing,
I guess. But things like this don't matter until they do.
For hooligans, they already know their friends would stand and
fight every single time. This is the foundation of their
bond from the get go. It's almost like the course
of a friendship in reverse. The most literal form of
(23:59):
backing your friends is what they begin with. Anything else
is a bonus to your average law abiding citizen. This
is a horrible way to live. They have no decorum, etc.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Et cetera.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
But honestly, who cares They don't They're choosing to live
outside of society.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Now.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
My point is, the reason King of the Streets is
so clandestine, yet so well organized and so influential is
likely because it started off from this base of arranged
fighting hooliganism. Some Hype crew members were hooligans for various
different firms in Sweden before forging their syndicate of what
is essentially a freelance firm with no loyalty to anything
(24:40):
but each other. This, I believe is a big part
of what's kept King of the Streets so consistent and
so well respected in the underground. When I get back
home to the UK, the lads from FPVS contact me
and let me know that everything went well. There haven't
been a rest. All the fighters are happy and their
(25:02):
fight club is getting dozens and dozens of new applications
to fight now that the footage is all across Instagram.
All in all, despite the pretty basic fight, things were
a success. It also turns out the word has gotten
out in the clandestine fighting underground that there's a reporter
trying to make a film about no rules fighting.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Let an old me.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Some don't like it, some don't care, but others are
pretty interested. It seems in general that these people trust
what I'm doing and understand they don't have some snitch
ulterior motive to out them as lunatics or whatever. I'm
just interested. Also, to be honest with you, I don't
really see what's wrong with grown adults deciding to fight
(25:44):
each other consensually in private, in a controlled setting. That's
their business. Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's wrong.
There's also some irony in the way states condemn no rules.
For example, one fighter who's undefeated on cots was banned
from fighting in professional mma in his own country for
(26:06):
doing no rules. The state decided he was too violent. Meanwhile,
that same government sent millions to a foreign country to
assist them in carrying out daily war crimes in the
Middle East. You tell me what's more violent, no rules
fighting or bombing children. Now, I don't mean to be dramatic,
(26:29):
but this is something else I find fascinating about no rules.
It unintentionally exposes human nature's undying connection to violence. No
rules is just unapologetically honest about it.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
As you can probably tell, this is a male dominated scene. However,
I've got words since returning from can that there's about
to be the very very first female no Rules fight.
It will be happening soon in Germany. More on that
in the next episode. If you've been listening to the
(27:15):
Away Days podcast next week episode three. To watch independent
Away Days documentaries, subscribe to our channel at YouTube dot
com slash at Awaydays TV. Your Wait Days Podcast is
a production of H eleven Studio for Cool Zone Media. Reporting, producing, writing,
(27:38):
editing and research by me Jake Hanrahan, co producing by
Sophie Lichtman, music by Sam Black, sound mixed by Splicing Block,
Photography by Johnny Pickup and Louis Hollis. Graphic design by
Laura Adamson and Casey Highfields
Speaker 3 (28:02):
To ass
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