Investigations after Hitler salute at MMA event Oktagon 94 in Frankfurt

The video is only a few seconds long. At the Oktagon 94 martial arts event in Frankfurt's Waldstadion on Saturday evening, the German national anthem sounds and the colors black, red and gold appear on the video cube. At the same time, a woman with a blonde braid and black clothing stands in one of the upper rows of the audience and stretches her right arm into the air. Everything points to the so-called Hitler salute - in Germany, according to Section 86a of the Criminal Code, punishable by a fine or up to three years in prison. The police started the investigation.

Oktagon, the organizer and promoter, announced that it would help the authorities identify the woman and take legal action. They also want to exclude the perpetrator “from future Oktagon events”: “There is no place for any form of extremist behavior at Oktagon events,” it says in a letter. This is how supposed self-cleaning powers work in mixed martial arts. But there is no official statement on social media about the incident.

“Then they’ll do the rest.”

RTL, which set a record with 922,000 streaming viewers over the weekend, also appears tight-lipped at first: “The scene in question was not part of the RTL broadcast,” an RTL spokesman told the F.A.Z. “As far as we know, the incident is currently being investigated by the relevant authorities.” Christian Eckerlin, the evening's main attraction, did not respond to a request for comment, while Philipp Haarburger, presenter at Oktagon, wrote on Instagram under the video: "Instead of filming, just tell a folder and they'll do the rest."

Out of sight, out of mind? That is the wrong conclusion. It is important that the incident was documented, and it is revealing how some of the MMA community reacted to it on social media: Maybe the woman just wanted to greet someone, it was basically a greeting from the Romans or in honor of the gladiators, the whole thing was AI-generated. No attempt at relativization seemed too absurd. The 50-year-old suspect had already reported to the police on Monday and admitted his actions, as the Frankfurt police announced.

This closeness between right-wing extremism and MMA, even at octagon events, is not an isolated case. On the same evening, Christian Jungwirth also appeared with a chest marked by tattoo blackness, on which a quote from Hitler's deputy Rudolf Heß was clearly visible a few years ago. A sin of youth, as Jungwirth repeatedly asserted.

The same was said by popular Czech fighter Radek Roušal, who was only allowed to compete at Oktagon after his right-wing extremist tattoos, including a portrait of Adolf Hitler on his arm and an SS motif on his chest, were no longer visible. But the fact that he is still allowed to do so today is part of the problem.

Oktagon may claim to be against right-wing extremism. But if you promote people with a past close to extremism in a profit-maximizing way for events where extreme forms of violence are also shown, then you shouldn't be surprised if you also attract paying customers who are sympathetic to extremist ideologies. Those who broadcast these events should also be aware of this.