Israeli UFC Fighter Natan Levy and His Life in Mixed Martial Arts

Israeli fighter Natan Levy is about to embark on his eighth professional fight on April 30th in Las Vegas. As ferocious a fighter as he is, he centers his mind on the day of his fights by rewatching one of his favorite childhood “comfort films.”

“I always watch a Harry Potter movie before a fight,” Levy told the Journal. “Every fight, I watch the next one.” So in the hours before he takes on Mike Breeden in the UFC octagon, he will be in a hotel room with his wife Dana watching the eighth and final film in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2.” 

At that point, Levy knows he has done all the training he can in preparation for his fight. When he enters the UFC Apex facility, six miles southwest of The Strip, Levy’s mind will be on getting his first victory after sustaining his only loss (by decision) in November 2021 against Rafa Garcia. Leading up to that fight, Levy had a 6-0 start to his professional fighting career. 

Looking back, Levy can trace his origins to a career in mixed martial arts to his youngest years. At the age of five, Levy with his mother and two older brothers relocated from his birthplace of France to Herzliya, Israel. Even now, at age 30, he still has traces of the French accent. Back in the school yard, he’d get into scuffles with classmates who made fun of his accent. And after his older brothers “toughened him up,” Levy was able to take care of his own fights. 

When he wasn’t reading Harry Potter books, as a teenager Levy started to get into martial arts, but without discipline. He wasn’t consistent. But then at age 15, it all changed, as he started training in karate. 

“That’s where I really found myself and started training every day very seriously,” he said. At 16, Levy made his first trip to the birthplace of karate, Okinawa, Japan, where he would spend a few months at training camps that would change his life — training with the grandmasters of his style.

Coming from Israel, he didn’t know anyone in Japan or speak any Japanese. But he found the people of Okinawa to be very welcoming. 

“The first time when I was looking for the dojo, I only had an address in Japanese and I got off at the wrong bus station,” Levy said. “I thought I was probably close by. I was just looking around to see where [the dojo] was, and I showed the address to some lady. She was just walking around, took me to her house nearby and told me to get in her car. She drove me for 30 minutes to the dojo. She was so nice without even being able to exchange words other than ‘thank you.’”

The worldliness of mixed martial arts became apparent to Levy right away. When he returned to Israel, he continued his training and became a big UFC fan. His favorite fighter was heavyweight Mirko Cro Cop from Croatia, as well as Canadian George St. Pierre and Brazilian Lyoto Machida. 

His enthusiasm for UFC skyrocketed when he watched the three widely-hyped superfights between Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell and “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz in 2004 and 2006.  At the time, their second match up was the biggest pay-per-view event in UFC history. 

Levy would return to Okinawa at age 18. There, he’d earn his black belt — today, he’s a third-degree black belt. Back in Israel, he began teaching in his coach’s gym, and within a few years, opened up his own mixed martial arts school. Despite the success of his own business, at age of 22, Levy had a burning desire to compete in UFC. But the people in his orbit cautioned him against hastily relocating. 

“A lot of people told me, ‘well, you should first train in Israel and maybe become national champion and then maybe go to the U.S.,’” Levy said. “I had no ground game because all I did was karate, so many people told me ‘you should first train in Israel for a few years in Jiu-Jitsu, get at least a brown belt, if not a black belt. And then only should you try MMA.”

But Levy thought it was a “now or never” situation. During this time, Levy met his wife Dana while doing karate training. 

“When we started dating, I told her, ‘look, I want you to know that a year from now, I’m planning to live in the U.S. because I want to be in the UFC. And if you want us to be together, you need to know that I’m not sticking around [Israel],’” Levy recalled saying. Dana agreed to relocate to Las Vegas with him. 

Levy looks back at the advice cautioning him against leaving Israel and knows that he made the right choice. 

“If I would’ve listened to them, I would still be in Israel waiting for that brown belt in Jiu-Jitsu,” Levy said, “I might as well go learn everything from the source, from where it’s the purest. So I closed my businesses and flew to Vegas, the fight capital of the world. Again, without knowing anybody.” He and Dana have been residing in Las Vegas for eight years. 

There he would meet coach John Wood, owner and trainer at Syndicate Athletics. Levy would go on to learn and master the fundamentals of mixed martial arts, particularly grappling on the ground. 

“He tries not to change us or train us all with the same mold,” Levy said of Wood. “For him, it’s more about using what’s special about you, what you’re good at, not trying to change it too much. Try to sharpen the tools, but keep you special.”

After competing in four amateur fights in 2016 and 2017, Levy had his first professional fight in 2018 — a victory by submission. He would win his second fight four months later, winning by submission using a guillotine choke — this time, in only 29 seconds in the first round. Levy went the distance (three rounds, five minutes each) in his next three fights. Levy won by submission in his sixth fight in November 2020, but with only two day’s notice due to a fighter scrubbing out from COVID-19. It was then that Levy was offered a contract by UFC President Dana White.

White’s words for Levy were brief but encouraging. Although Levy went the distance in his first fight under a UFC contract in November 2021, he lost by decision, leaving his current record at 6-1. 

Hardly discouraged, Levy kept up his training regimen, waking up early and training three times a day. He watches some film of his previous fights, but doesn’t obsess over it. He’s received acclaim in the media since then, too. 

On his Instagram, if he’s not wearing a Syndicate Athletics shirt, he’s wearing a “Cobra Kai” shirt, or a customized shirt that reads “Jew-Jitsu” with a Star of David on it (or he’s shirtless altogether). He grew up watching “The Karate Kid” films, and said with a sincere laugh that he would love to have an on-screen fight in the “Cobra Kai” series one day, showcasing his karate roots.  

However, the fame and glamor are not what are on Levy’s mind at all. To Levy, being on the UFC roster is all business. At the same time, he does recognize the specialness to being the only current UFC fighter out of Israel.

“If a Jewish kid writes to me that I inspire him to stand up for himself, to learn boxing or to get fit, that means the world to me.” – Natan Levy

“For the future UFC fighters out of Israel, I think I’ve made a path,” Levy said. “For me showing that it’s possible, but not only for UFC fighters — everybody’s got their own fight. I think for Jewish people, Jewish teenagers, if a fighter says I inspired him, that’s great. But if a Jewish kid writes to me that I inspire him to stand up for himself, to learn boxing or to get fit, that means the world to me.” 

As his next fight approaches, Levy’s observance of Passover doesn’t affect his training at all. He’s already watching his carbohydrate intake so he can be sure to make weight to compete as a lightweight (between 146-155 pounds). He always competes with an Israeli flag printed on his trunks. 

Levy has come a long way since his days as a teenager learning karate in Israel. His next fight will be just down the road from the MGM Garden Arena where the Liddell-Ortiz superfight was. Although his extended family in Israel will be watching his next fight on TV, he will have Coach Wood and the team from Syndicate Athletics in his corner. And of course, the two Dana’s in his life will be close by too: Dana, his wife of three years, and UFC President Dana White—both watching from ringside. 

“They’re both my boss,” Levy said.