Exclusive: Neo-Nazi MMA active clubs set up shop on Substack

The notorious neo-Nazi MMA fight clubs known as active clubs have launched a Substack newsletter.

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Last year, Substack faced what The Guardian called a “user revolt” after its executives defended hosting Nazis on the platform, citing its staunch anti-censorship mandate. Some of the platform’s largest newsletters threatened to take their business elsewhere, including Casey Newton’s Platformer, who eventually followed through.

At the time, the site’s leadership stated that as they faced “growing pressure to censor content published on Substack that to some seems dubious or objectionable, our answer remains the same: we make decisions based on principles not PR, we will defend free expression, and we will stick to our hands-off approach to content moderation.”

And though Substack has not been overrun by Nazis over the following 13 months, and remains home to a wide range of progressive voices, Sports Politika has uncovered yet another neo-Nazi outfit that is setting up shop on the platform: the notorious MMA hate movement known as active clubs.

Using its W2R alias—which stands for Will2Rise, a fascist fashion platform associated with the active club movement—the Nazis has been sharing articles a Substack newsletter launched in late January 2025.

Founded by Robert Rundo, a white nationalist from Orange County, California, active clubs are a decentralized network of neo-Nazi fight clubs that have skyrocketed in popularity since first launching in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rundo previously led a street-fighting group called the Rise Above Movement (RAM), whose members infiltrated protests to attack social justice demonstrators. In 2018, federal prosecutors described RAM as “a combat-ready, militant group” that’s part of a “new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement.”

Over the past five years, active clubs have emerged as the fastest growing right-wing extremist network in the world. As of January 2025, Sports Politika found more than 125 cells operating around the world.

Active clubs are present in at least 35 U.S. states, five Canadian provinces, and 10 European countries, including Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Ireland, Norway, The Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Will2Rise, which was founded by Rundo in 2021, is also playing the role of a corporate sponsor for white supremacy events. The company staged a second-annual MMA tournament in August 2024, which served as a gathering of likeminded neo-Nazis with experience in combat sports. The event was hosted by a local active club in Huntington Beach and featured fighter representatives from five other active clubs, as well as from Patriot Front, another high-profile, white-nationalist group. Many of the fighters sported Will2Rise boxing gloves and other apparel.

As active clubs continue to spread internationally, its commercialization of white nationalism, coupled with its fusion with combat sports and hyper masculinity is reflected in some of the group’s posts on Substack. “From creating fashion to filming documentaries and unearthing musical talent from the underground, Will2rise has sought to cover it all. This isn’t just a movement; it’s a countercultural insurgency aimed at seizing the hearts and minds of the masses,” read one the posts published this past week.

The active club Substack has also shared a series of propaganda montages laden with Nazi and fascist imagery, including a video titled “Our Daydreams 3.0” featuring a white woman giving a Nazi salute.

In its latest post on Sunday titled “AC Culture,” the group explained the appeal of Substack in the age of self-publishing. “Today’s world is different, and a variety of platforms, apps, and self-publishing options enable pro-White dissidents to speak for themselves with a simple and pure message of White consciousness and White unity.”

“The outdated tactic of grabbing as many headlines as possible has proven to be a hindrance on today’s propaganda battlefield, accomplishing nothing but providing ammunition for those who want to define our movement as something antagonistic to decent White people,” continued the post.

White Nationalism 3.0

In a December 2020 essay entitled “The Idea Behind ‘Active Club,’” Rundo laid out his argument for why his fellow angry white men should start their own local fight clubs.

“As most institutions give little or no regard for white youth today, Active Clubs’ role will fill that gap,” Rundo wrote, adding that active clubs promote camaraderie, identity formation, and “awaken racial bonds between kin” as they engage in fitness activities, combat sports training, and the “thrill and excitement” of spreading right-wing propaganda in the form of flyers, stickers, and graffiti.