Israeli featherweight puts win in perspective

The 15 minutes Israeli Noad Lahat spent winning a unanimous decision over Steven Siler in an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday night provided one of the few mental respites he has had over recent months as mounting tension turned to all-out war in his homeland.

The featherweight has spent his training camps in San Jose since 2009 and did so once again for this fight in his adopted hometown. But being a half-world away didn’t provide much chance to forget what was happening back home.

“It was so hard. The last two months I never slept one full night. I was waking up every couple hours to check my phone for messages, to see if my family called me or if my friends called me, anything,” he said. “I don’t think I ever had more than two hours straight of sleep. I would go to the gym dead-tired and had to spar because I had a fight coming up. This was the worst fight camp I ever had by far, the worst two months I ever had.

“The only thing on my mind was my family back home, my friends, my country. That’s it.”

Now he’s on his way there. Lahat left Tuesday for Israel, where he will await instructions with his army unit on when they will be needed to participate in the escalating conflict in the region.

Lahat can’t be forced to report. Instead, he feels a sense of responsibility to his friends, family and country. It’s not that Lahat is a warmonger who can’t wait to get to the battlefield, though.

“This is not fun. I hate every second of that. I’m not doing this because I love it. I hate going there. I hate wearing the uniform. I hate holding the weapon. It’s not fun when someone’s shooting at you. It’s just something you have to do,” he said. “I can’t tell you how much I hate doing that, eating the crappy food and everything. I love training and I love fighting in the cage. I don’t want to see any more of my friends getting hurt. It’s not fun.”

One of the most difficult parts of his training camp was hearing about the times his 80-year-old grandmother would have to scramble for cover in a shelter when missile alarms sounded while he was enjoying the California sunshine.

“That was happening and I’m here safe? It’s messed up. It shouldn’t happen,” Lahat said. “I should be there helping them but they kept telling me to stay here and bring us some pride and some moral support. It was really hard for me, but I knew there was no way I was losing this fight.”

Before tensions escalated, Lahat was going to be returning home for more festive reasons. He has been married to an American woman for more than two years, but their wedding was very modest as they had little money. He promised his family the couple would have a traditional ceremony in Israel this August.

The couple still plans on following through with that plan next month.

“She talked about maybe pushing it back, but I said, ‘No way, I’m not changing any plans because some kind of idiot is shooting missiles at us,’ ” he said. “They’re not going to win, no way.”

Lahat comes from a military family. Both parents were generals. His sister is a paramedic and one of his brothers is special forces. Another brother is 17 and will begin military service as soon as he turns 18.

Lahat has no idea when he will actually be called into service or how long he will be needed. If his unit had been called up before the fight, he insists he would have left immediately and missed the fight.

He did say he was worried he could suffer an injury in the fight that would prevent him from assisting his unit. He was able to emerge unscathed. Now he hopes that good fortune extends to his duties in Israel.

“It’s not even thinking about myself. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt,” he said. “It’s not easy. I lost a few friends and it’s very, very hard.”

■ UFC HEADED TO ARIZONA — The UFC announced it will hold an event in the Grand Canyon State for the first time.

UFC on Fox 13 will take place at U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix on Dec. 13.

The event had been rumored for several months, but was confirmed by the UFC during Saturday night’s UFC on Fox 12 broadcast.

While the UFC has never held an event in the state, World Extreme Cagefighting did hold its final card before being merged into the UFC in Glendale in December 2010.

No fights have been announced for the event, though there are several major MMA gyms in the Phoenix area.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.