Kilkenny Influencer Boxing Riot: Chaos Unleashed
The punches were meant to be staged. The chaos that followed was not.
What began as another raucous night of influencer boxing in Kilkenny collapsed into a full-scale riot around midnight on Saturday, as the presence and rhetoric of far-right activist Tommy Robinson turned an already volatile event into a scene of flying chairs, barricades and panic.
The show, branded under the Unhinged banner and fronted by internet personalities HSTikkyTokky – real name Harrison Sullivan – and Ed Matthews, had sold itself as wild entertainment. It delivered that, and more, to a global audience. Around 1.8 million people watched live on streaming platform Kick as the Hub events venue in Kilkenny descended into violence.
Robinson’s arrival lights the fuse
Robinson, 43 and currently on bail after being found guilty in October of harassing two journalists, had been billed as a ringside guest. His appearance was no surprise to organisers; Sullivan had said a day earlier that Robinson would be in attendance. He arrived flanked by supporters, a visible bloc in an otherwise mixed, racially diverse crowd.
The early part of the card passed without major incident. The fighters were a who’s who of the online underworld: streamers, fitness influencers, drill rappers, OnlyFans models, even Paul Flaherty, a convicted sex offender turned YouTuber. Friday’s press conference had already hinted at trouble, with competitors repeatedly attacking each other in a chaotic, violent warm-up to the main event.
The pressure really began to build when Sullivan and Matthews invited Robinson to the commentator’s desk ahead of a bout involving Muslim social media personality Mo Deen, whose real name is Mohammad Kubba.
Robinson, holding a copy of his book The Grooming Gang Cover-Up, used the platform to launch into an anti-Muslim tirade, claiming “Muslims have been raping our country for 100 years” and citing false statistics about Muslim men and sexual offences. In a crowd that included many people from minority backgrounds, the reaction was instant and hostile. Tension thickened around the ring.
From grudge to brawl
Kubba won his fight. Then he left the script.
Climbing out of the ring, he launched himself at Robinson, throwing punches as he jumped on to him at ringside. Security waded in quickly and dragged the pair apart. For a moment, it looked like the flashpoint had been contained and the event might stagger back to its original format.
Instead, that was the spark.
Sullivan, leaning into the mayhem, demanded Kubba return to the ring for a “face off” with Robinson. The fighter had already left the venue, but security escorted a reluctant Kubba back inside. Around them, the mood turned ugly. Sullivan appeared to be pushing for an unscheduled bareknuckle confrontation, repeatedly shouting “let Tommy fight him” and ushering Robinson’s entourage – “Tommy’s boys”, as he called them – into the ring.
By the time Kubba stepped between the ropes again, the ring was packed with Robinson’s supporters. Robinson hurled his book – stylised with Arabic-style lettering – at Kubba. That was the trigger. Another fight exploded and, this time, it spread.
Chairs flew. Barricades crashed. Fists and feet flew in every direction. Some fans swung wildly at each other; others screamed and bolted for the exits. The influencer circus had become a riot.
Twenty minutes of chaos
What followed was 20 minutes of raw, uncontrolled violence.
Sullivan grabbed a microphone and pleaded for calm, but his words were drowned out by the roar and the clashes on the floor. Security staff from the event and the venue battled to separate groups and push people back. Gardaí, who had already been called earlier in the night after disturbances, moved in to help break up the fighting.
A Garda Síochána spokesperson later confirmed that a man in his 30s was assaulted and taken to St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny. Another man in his 20s was arrested and detained at a police station. A teenage boy was also arrested, charged with violent disorder and scheduled to appear in court on Sunday.
Inside the Hub, the live stream captured the pandemonium in real time before abruptly cutting to black. Just before the feed died, some in the crowd could be heard chanting “Oh Tommy Robinson”, a chilling soundtrack to the final images of the melee.
Outside, in the early hours, the demographic was clear: mostly teenage boys and young men, phones out, recording the aftermath for social media. One attendee summed up the shock locally, telling the Guardian that “such things did not happen in Kilkenny city”, a town of around 27,000 people.
Viral fallout and unanswered questions
As the dust settled, the riot’s second life began online. Clips of the violence ricocheted across platforms, with Unhinged’s own official Instagram account, @unhinged_promotions, posting footage of the mayhem under the caption: “The Area started a RIOT.”
Sullivan, speaking on social media on Sunday, conceded that he had misjudged the scale of security needed. “Everyone makes mistakes when you are trying to grow something,” he said, before insisting: “One thing I can say is it was a great night of entertainment and it’s gone super viral.”
Kubba, interviewed after the riot, claimed he had been told to start a fight with Robinson, though he refused to say by whom. Robinson, before the chaos, had said he would be willing to “batter” Kubba if the Muslim influencer initiated a confrontation, while also claiming he liked Kubba and bore no ill will. There is no suggestion the riot itself was pre-planned.
Questions now swirl around Robinson’s very presence in Ireland. The Ministry of Justice and the Metropolitan police were unable to confirm whether his bail conditions restrict international travel. Robinson is due back in court on 16 December for sentencing, with the prospect of a substantial custodial term.
Back at the Hub, the night ended with a final, telling scene. After police had dispersed the crowd, Sullivan tried to restart the fights for the benefit of the live stream alone. A visibly upset representative of the venue stepped in and stopped him.
In a sport built on spectacle and shock value, this was a line crossed. The influencers got their viral moment. Kilkenny got a riot.
