Meet the GTA Online role-players who built their own fighting circuit
It’s fight night and the energy in the air is electric. Fans filter into the Maze Bank Arena while fighters congregate at the side of the cage, preparing for the battles ahead. Commentators are doing vocal warmup exercises and running down the list, and promoters have their phones out, hyping up the bouts on Twitter. This is a regular event in Los Santos, and the people of the city have come to love the action and adrenaline of Blood Night Bouts.
Blood Night Bouts is a fight circuit in the fictional state of San Andreas, run on the GTA Online role-play server New Day. I’ve been part of the New Day community for almost two years, including volunteering as a staff member, and Blood Night Bouts has grown from six guys scrapping in a parking lot to an entertainment empire that can fill in-game stadiums.
“Blood Night Bouts is a passion project that was created from my love of a few things,” says Android 18, the player behind Meryl Ford, the founder of Blood Night Bouts. As Android explained in a call with Polygon, “RP [role-playing], that’s pretty obvious. But the other things would be fighting games, fight culture, and sports entertainment — primarily wrestling.”
Fans of ’90s Attitude Era wrestling will spot some of its creative hallmarks lovingly homaged in Blood Night Bouts. Dan White, an in-game league commentator, is a tribute to WWE icon Jim Ross. “Dan’s the face announcer, and Meryl’s the heel,” says Rums, the player behind Dan White, in a call with Polygon. “I’ll be booing a fighter, saying he needs to be stopped and shut down, but as soon as Meryl gives a thank-you speech and the curtain closes, he’s the first person I’m coming over to for a hug.”
The fighters stick to kayfabe, even when they’re not at a fight.
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