“He's a genius, he did all of this himself,” said the wife of Street Beefs founder ‘Scarface.’ Recently, as part of my ongoing project on the subcultures of Appalachia, I attended one of Streetbeefs monthly events. At these, anyone 18+ is invited to show up and sign up to be matched for MMA or boxing. What initially drew my interest to Streetbeefs was the drama reminiscent of early WWE, with heels like their rising star ‘Death Sentence’ and ongoing beefs, but what kept me was the community. Scarface, the founder of StreetBeefs, which has now expanded to additional branches on the West Coast, started this with his wife and family (who serve as videographers) as a way for people to resolve disputes without knives or guns.

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The people who step into the ring range from those who are on their way to a professional career and those who have never sparred before. The first fight of the day was with a girl going by the name ‘The Jersey Anchor’ against Scarface's daughter. Despite having to throw in the towel around the second round after being bombarded with hooks, the underdog from Jersey stated she’ll be back for next month's event, as she still has more work to do.