September 1, 2023 2:30 pm ET
LAS VEGAS – It hardly ever occurs, however every so often, web trolls shall be confronted in actual life.
That was the case for Ben, who determined to problem Jewish UFC fighter Natan Levy. The problem arose after Levy (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) took challenge with some antisemitic feedback Ben was defending on X (previously Twitter), and it resulted in Ben choosing a struggle with the UFC light-weight.
“There was just a few backwards and forwards on Twitter,” Levy instructed reporters throughout a media scrum on the UFC Apex. “We’ve seen a brand new rise in antisemitism – on-line and in actual life. Simply this previous weekend, there have been 4 kosher eating places in L.A. whose home windows bought damaged. So folks permit themselves to talk in a really hateful method on-line, they usually suppose phrases haven’t any penalties, however they do. I turned to violence in actual life. So when a troll mentioned he’s going to come back to my fitness center and ‘F’ me up, I accepted the problem.”
To Levy’s shock, Ben truly confirmed as much as his Xtreme Couture fitness center in Las Vegas to spar, and that’s the place all of it went down. Levy recorded the entire ordeal and posted it to YouTube, drawing over 200,000 views and counting. It was fairly the scene.
As anticipated, Levy gave Ben a nasty beating and had him re-thinking a few of his views. “Anyone who trains is aware of you’re extra prone to get damage from any individual who doesn’t know what they’re doing, so it’s positively harmful,” Levy recalled. “I had no concept who was going to indicate up. It may’ve been (Francis) Ngannou displaying up. However nonetheless, in the event you come into my fitness center and disrespect my tradition, heritage and my faith, then I’ll struggle you it doesn’t matter what measurement you might be or how sturdy you might be.”
Levy is clearly not some form of Jewish superhero combating antisemitism, however he’s glad he took the time to make an instance of Ben. If anybody sooner or later is planning on displaying as much as struggle about his non secular beliefs, he’s very happy to facilitate it.
“Clearly, I’m not going to go round and beat anyone up who talks on-line,” Levy mentioned. “I don’t have time to do that. I don’t have the need to do that, however in the event you present as much as my fitness center and problem me, you’re going to get it.”
Levy returns to sanctioned motion at Noche UFC to face Alex Reyes. The light-weight bout takes place Sept. 16 at T-Cellular enviornment.
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