Berlin an emotional experience for UFC Fight Night 69's Noad Lahat

BERLIN – After his first win in the UFC, nearly a year ago, Noad Lahat had a tough task ahead of him.

The Israel-born fighter was leaving San Jose, Calif., the next day for his home country to join back up with the military to help fight in the longstanding war against Palestine.

After his win over Steven Siler at UFC on FOX 12, Lahat said he had two months of training at American Kickboxing Academy, the whole time thinking about if he’d get a call or message about the continuing situation in Israel. “The only thing I had on my mind was my family back home, my friends, my country,” Lahat said after the fight.

On Saturday, Lahat (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) returns to the UFC for a featherweight bout against Niklas Backstrom (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 69.

And once again, the circumstances around his fight will be emotional. After his 2014 win, always wondering if he’d get the call to go to real war before he could get in the octagon for a metaphorical war, Lahat this week had more emotions in Berlin.

As a Jew, being in Germany, particularly Berlin, where his people were tortured and killed en masse under Nazi rule in the Holocaust, has brought up bittersweet feelings.

“For me to come here and fight here with my history, it means everything to me,” Lahat told MMAjunkie. “For me, as a fighter, coming here and representing who I am is the perfect place for me – to showcase my heritage. Just coming here and fighting as a free man, a free Jew, it’s hard to describe. I don’t think I can describe it.”

Lahat said he paid a visit to Berlin’s Holocaust memorial site, as well as a museum, in the days leading up to Saturday’s fight, which takes place at O2 World Berlin and streams on UFC Fight Pass.

That experience, he said, “wasn’t an easy thing for me. It was really, really hard.”

He said he never planned on visiting Germany until he got the call from the UFC that he’d be fighting in Berlin. Now, he hopes to make the most of the opportunity to show the pride he has in his heritage.

“It’s a very special moment,” he said. “Being here as a strong Jew, and coming here 70 years after what happened, it’s a win. I don’t even care about the fight – of course I want to win. But coming here, to have my flag, and have it in pride – (the Nazis) used to stamp (Jews) with the same symbol, the Star of David, and now I bring the Star of David and I wear it with pride – it means everything to me.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 69, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.