Natan Levy says life in Israel prepared him for 'The Ultimate Self-Defense Championship'

UFC fighter Natan Levy will appear in season 2 of The Ultimate Self-Defense Championship which begins airing on YouTube on Sunday, Sept. 8. The show pits people in challenges where they are tested on their self-defense survival skills.

"For this season, they changed the rules a little bit, but basically it's day after day of challenges, and you just get scored pretty much based on your performance next to the other performances," Levy told FanSided MMA in an exclusive interview. "Because sometimes you're doing, I really don't want to spoil it, but sometimes you get put in a challenge that's almost impossible, like nobody's gonna survive it, but you still gotta somehow rank who did the best. So this is how they did it on this season."

Levy says he watched the first season and had commented on some of the challenges when someone reached out and asked him to join the cast of the second season. Levy comes well-prepared with his background in martial arts but he says growing up in Israel also helped prepare him for the experience.

"Here on the show, I actually felt like Israel gave me the experience I needed for the show, because Israel can be a rough place, and there's wars, and sometimes you got to be ready to fight or ready to defend yourself or be vigilant to see that there is no like anybody suspicious," he said. "So sometimes there's going to be warnings that there could be a suicide attack or something like that. You know you're not just walking in the street with your headphones, looking at your phone and you got to be aware of your surrounding. You got to be vigilant. So I feel like that, a lot of it, life in Israel actually helped me prepare for the challenges."

How to watch Natan Levy in 'The Ultimate Self-Defense Championship'

He'll be joined in season 2 by Jesse Enkamp, Ranton, Jeff Chan, Rokas Leo, Jeff Phillips, Craig Hunter, and Jordan Preisinger and new episodes will go up every Sunday. For those unfamiliar with the format, the entire first season of the show is available for free on YouTube right now.

Levy says he's representing Israel in the competition and knows that it's an honor to represent his home country. "I am always representing Israel, and I'm proud to do it. Sometimes it adds some pressure, but that's okay." he said.

Unfortunately, right now Israel is involved in a war with Palestine and the ongoing conflict can sometimes spill over into online hate, especially considering Levy's status and platform. And while he does say online trolling has increased lately, it's not something he pays much attention to.

"I don't know if I'd call it fans, you know, the maggots definitely show themselves, but it's okay," he said. "I don't really care. You know, there's a lot of negativity, but there's also a lot of positivity. And I look at the positive, and if I go out and fight, whether I win or I lose, for me, it's about going out there and fighting, and that's what my fans appreciate about me, and they're happy that I'm fighting and representing. So, whoever you know talks sh*t from the computer at home behind the keyboard on Twitter, spreading my name, spreading photos of me fighting, and no matter the outcome and videos and all that stuff, they're just helping me get famous and making me money."

Levy is coming off a recent loss at UFC Vegas 88 and is preparing to make his return to the Octagon soon. Watch the trailer for the competition below.