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Professional athletes have no shortage of trolls to deal with on the internet. A life lived largely in the public eye, where performance and results are everything brings down a constant stream of critics. Sometimes, however, it brings on a whole different level of hatred.
That’s a situation UFC lightweight Natan Levy recently found himself dealing with. Raised in Israel, Levy is one of a very few Jewish fighters to ever compete in the Octagon. A fact that put him square in the sights of an antisemitic MMA fan looking to test his skills.
UFC fighter Natan Levy trounces antisemitic troll
In a video posted to his YouTube account, Natan Levy made recent headlines in a bit of extracirricular fisticuffs with what the fighter described as a “white supremacist supporter.”
“He hasn’t watched film on me,” the large orange-haired weirdo proclaims to the camera, early in the video. “I have striking, I have power, I have the size,” the man continues to explain right before getting unceremoniously dumped on his ass.
After the physical reeducation session, Levy had Ben announce that, in fact, six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust for the cameras. Plus the video showed brief highlights of a bonus beating when one of Ben’s online friends came to defend his honor and got stomped by fellow Xtreme Couture talent Shimon Smotritsky.
“I enjoy it a lot, I like it,” Smotritsky said to the camera after breaking his opponents nose. “And don’t talk shit about Jews, baby.”
Natan Levy explains engaging with trolls
Shortly after releasing the video, Levy spoke to reporters about why he decided to give these trolls the time of day. While he clearly doesn’t have enough free hours in the day to devote time to beating up every troll that comes his way on Twitter (X?), Levy explained that if people who “talk s—t” about him are willing to show up to his gym, he’ll make time.
“There was just some back and forth on Twitter,” Levy explained (transcript via MMA Junkie). “We’ve seen a new rise in antisemitism—online and in real life. Just this past weekend, there were four kosher restaurants in L.A. whose windows got broken. So people allow themselves to speak in a very hateful manner online, and they think words have no consequences, but they do. I turned to violence in real life. So when a troll said he’s going to come to my gym and ‘F’ me up, I accepted the challenge.”
“Obviously, I’m not going to go around and beat anybody up who talks online,” he added. “I don’t have time to do this. I don’t have the will to do this, but if you show up to my gym and challenge me, you’re going to get it.”
Natan Levy is currently set to take on Alex Reyes at UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Shevchenko to. The older brother of light heavyweight Dominick Reyes, the ‘Executioner’ hasn’t competed since his Octagon debut in 2017. After winding up on the receiving end of a brutal loss to Mike Perry, Reyes suffered a horrible spinal infection that derailed his athletic career entirely. Years of recovery, however, have him primed to take his second bout in the UFC.
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