Bellators debut show in Tel Aviv, Israel couldn’t come at a better time for the one of the promotions latest acquisitions Noad Lahat who will make his debut in front of his fellow countrymen on Thursday evening.
“I can’t wait to fight in front of my countrymen. I’ve fought in Tel Aviv two times before, the first time was on professional debut in 2008 and the second time was in my third fight, in 2009 so hopefully my perfect record of winning there will continue [laughs].”
The former military man come mixed martial artist who has had two stints in the Israel Defence Force is proud of the contribution he made serving his country but feels he can take little from that experience as he carves out an MMA career.
“In terms of things I can take from my time in the defence force and use in my MMA training there is very little. What it did give me is a good work ethic because after that kind of training, MMA training is easy. After you’ve endured the kind of training where someone is trying to break you down everyday all other kinds of training is easy after that.”
“I think it [the military] made me to tough but the mentality I developed from my time there wasn’t all good in terms of MMA training because sometimes I would push through some of my injuries instead of resting them which made things worst. One time I broke my ankle, I kept on training as I didn’t want to come across as a p*ssy to my then American Kickboxing Academy team mates and as a result my ankle was messed up for about a year afterwards.”
“Its taken me a while to find the right balance between being tough and being smart but I think I have now so over the next few years things will come together and you will see the results and see my true potential.”
Now blessed with a new home and new team in the desert state of Nevada Lahat feels now is the time MMA fan will see a return to the form that saw him win his first 7 professional fights with 6 of those wins coming by way of stoppage.
“I moved from San Jose to Las Vegas in around April and I’ve been training with different coaches who have tweaked my game a little bit. Coaches such as Robert Drysdale have helped me to fine tune my BJJ and other coaches have helped me with my hands and my MMA. In the past I have worked my wrestling with Daniel Cormier which is great but now I am working with new bodies so I think people will see the improvement in my game.
Facing the 32-year old at Bellator 164 will be former All-American wrestler and featherweight tournament season 10 entrant Scott Cleve, a fighter who has almost twice the experience of the man nicknamed “Neo” but the edge on time spent in the cage will not faze him as he enters the Bellator arena.
“I know his a good wrestler with good hands but he hasn’t fought in a while. His a little later in his game then I am so I don’t expect him to show up as a new fighter, trying to hit me with sinning kicks, pulling guard or anything crazy like that.”
“He is a more experienced fighter then I am but I don’t think that will be a major factor in the fight because despite the advantage he has never trained with the calibre of people I train with on a day-to-day basis and he hasn’t been that active over the last few years. If you are training for a fight you can see the improvements but if you are training for training sake but you don’t have a target I have a hard time believe his improved that much but I won’t underestimate him and I still expect a really tough fight.”
