UFC fighter reveals he used to defend cousins against antisemites
Natan Levy, currently the world’s only Israeli fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, commonly known as UFC, a mixed martial arts promotion, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he revealed that he used to defend his cousins against antisemites.
When asked about modern-day antisemitism in France, where Mr Levy grew up for a time, the fighter said: “I can tell you it’s not new. It’s been going on for years. With my cousins, we’d fly to France a few times a year and from a certain age, it would be, ‘Hey Natan, this kid took my kippa (skullcap), they took my bicycle.’ I’d be like ‘Who is it? Show me who it is.’ And we’d go take care of it.”
He added: “I was never looking for fights but if there was a reason to fight, I’m not gonna back down. I might even be a little excited for it, a little bit scared, but I know what needs to be done.”
Mr Levy commented how “it was like this years ago,” and “now it’s only worse…more violent and what we’re seeing right now in antisemitism is that it’s all physical attacks…it’s getting out of hand.”
“Every Jewish person in the world should learn martial arts,” the fighter urged.
Speaking on his pride as a Jewish person and his opposition to antisemitic tropes, Mr Levy said that “When I’m in the cage and I’m fighting, I want to show that we’re brave, we fight, and we can take care of ourselves. We are not weak.”
Mr Levy also revealed that a young fan and aspiring swimmer contacted him after she was told that her peers told her that “She’s a Jew and she could only be a manager.”
The fan informed Mr Levy that he gave her the inspiration to keep on swimming, a feeling which he described as “way better than winning a fight.”
During the interview, Mr Levy discussed how he plans to donate the proceeds from auctioning off his ring gear to Holocaust survivors, and the antisemitic comments he received in response.
“At one point I was so nervous for my fight, it was the biggest fight of my life,” he said, “I really needed this win. You’re going to get into a fist-fight, you’re anxious, you need to make weight. And on the other hand, it’s Holocaust Memorial Day and I said to myself, ‘What am I worried about? What am I stressed about? It’s a sport, I’m choosing to do this. Look at what these people went through, the atrocities.’”
He added that his mentality surrounding his fight was to “Fight for them.”
Addressing some of the online comments he received in response to his announcement surrounding the proceeds, which included people threatening to bid without paying and “Free Palestine” tweets, the latter of which he stated had “nothing at all” to do with the Holocaust, he said that he was “not surprised” and that “if you have a good grasp on reality, you will assume it’s going to happen.”
“It’s okay,” he added. “I would rather they commented and everyone can see how disgusting they are…I think it’s better when they talk and just say what they would like to do, what their intentions are, just to show their true face.”
Throughout the interview, Mr Levy touched upon a variety of other issues which included being inducted into the Israeli Federation of Martial Arts Hall of Fame and his advice to Jewish people experiencing antisemitism.
The podcast with Mr Levy can be listened to here, or watched here.
Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.
Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.
