N. Lahat (photo) in an interview after UFC on FOX 12. Photo: Reproduction
Not even the victory over Steven Siler in the opening of the UFC on FOX 12 preliminary card, last Saturday (26), can bring the Israeli Noad Lahat back to calm. Although it was a relief, the triumph in the octagon ended up taking a backseat to the fighter's concern for his family, who is in the midst of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and his return home, where he will serve in the army in the Strip. of Gaza. Lahat stated that he does not like being part of the war, but highlighted that he feels a duty to protect his family.
“There was no doubt. My unit called me and said, 'be ready.' If it weren't for this fight, it wouldn't matter if they called me or not, I need to go home because just thinking about my grandmother... She is over 80 years old and had 15 seconds to run and find a shelter. My grandmother... And I'm here safe. It shouldn't be like this, I should be there helping them”, said the athlete shortly after the victory. “It's not fun, I hate every second of it. I'm not doing it because I love it, I hate going (to war). I hate wearing the uniform, I hate carrying guns… It's not fun to have someone shoot you, but it's something you have to do. I can't tell you how much I hate doing this, you still have to eat that horrible food. What I love is training and fighting in the cage”, he added.
Despite winning by unanimous decision from the judges, the featherweight still revealed that he had one of his worst preparations for the duel against Siler, due to apprehension about the situation in his home country. “In the last two months, I haven't slept a full night. I woke up all the time to see if I had received messages, if my family had called me, if my army friends had called. I didn't sleep more than two hours straight. I would go to the gym, get tired and have to do sparring because I had a fight coming up. But this was the worst camp I've ever had, by far. It was the worst two months I've ever had. I couldn't even concentrate on it. I woke up every morning, went in front of the computer and talked to my family, then I realized I was late for training and had to run. The only time I got my mind off it was at the gym, training. But even there, when I went to the gym, until I joined, the only thing on my mind was my family, my friends and my country,” he stated.
The most recent escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine began last June, when three young people of Israeli origin disappeared in the West Bank. The teenagers were found dead weeks later and their murders were linked by the Israeli government to the Islamist group Hamas. A day later, a young man of Palestinian origin was kidnapped and burned alive in East Jerusalem. From then on, an intense conflict broke out in the Gaza Strip region, which belongs to Palestine and borders Israel. Since then, until this Monday (28), the number of victims has reached more than a thousand on the Palestinian side, mostly civilians, and another 42 on the Israeli side, mostly military.
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