Czech MMA fighter exploits media attention of his win to insult Romani people, then claims he is "not a racist"
The controversial Czech bodybuilder Filip Grznár has won his MMA match against Romani MMA newcomer Jaroslav Oláh, who is also a moderator of the online Roma Rádio station and a singer. In an interview after the contest, Grznár assaulted all Romani people with racist remarks, then attempted to walk them back in a later Instagram post.
The fight was part of a tour sponsored by the I AM Fighter organization, the main promoter for which is a formerly active member of the neo-Nazi National Resistance (Národní odpor – NO) movement in the Czech Republic, Petr Píno Ondruš. Betting offices had given good odds to Oláh, but despite almost knocking Grznár out in the first round, he was eventually defeated.
The second round revealed Grznár’s greater experience with MMA fights, and the duel was Oláh’s first in the sport. The match was finally ended by the referee after Grznár delivered a hailstorm of blows and was then able to rejoice over his first-ever win in the cage.
Grznár was recently fined CZK 15 000 [EUR 600] for committing violence against a group of people and an individual member of that group and for approving of a crime. More than three years ago he made a video in which he approved of the murder of a Romani man in Chomutov on a housing estate by a non-Romani gunman and threatened to kill other Romani people.
Soon after winning the MMA match, Grznár insulted Romani people again in racist terms. “He may be a gyppo, but he’s really just a show-off,” he said of his opponent.
Speaking in a video posted to his own Instagram account later on, Grznár attempted to tone down his remarks about the fight. “I want to express respect to Jaroslav Oláh, who beat me up terribly in there. I’ve just given an interview and I was babbling some terrible shit, so be charitable. Just fucking forget about it! I’m not a crazy moronic racist and if I said anything like that at some point, I was kidding,” the body builder told the camera.
“Jardo, thanks a lot for an awesome match, at one point I believed I was dead already,” Grznár added. The fact that the main promoter of the I AM Fighter organization is a formerly active member of the neo-Nazi NO and the founder of clothing brand Grassel, popular among neo-Nazis, adds a certain flavor to the entire event.
Ondruš was convicted in 2009 for engaging in blackmail involving the use of a weapon in 2006 and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. “He wanted to take revenge on the thief who had stolen his car with Grassel clothes in it the night before. Experts on right-wing extremism believe the double S in the brand name refers to Nazi SS units,” the iDNES.cz news server reported at the time.
