Israeli MMA Fighter and Policeman Knocks Out Anti-Semitic Kazakh Opponent in 1st Round

News is out that the Israeli mixed martial arts fighter and current active Israeli police officer Rafael Aronov knocked out his anti-Semitic opponent in what was Aronov’s third career win. Aronov is nicknamed “The Cop” and is a police officer in the city of Beer Sheva. He’s been pursuing his MMA dreams since 2017, which is when he had his first official fight.

After several tournaments and championships, Aronov reached the 500 mark for the first time in his professional fighting career after his last fight, bringing his record to 3-3. Aronov’s latest fight came against Ilyas Sadykov, a Kazakh fighter who has been openly and proudly anti-Semitic throughout his career, and whose last win was more than two years ago.

In the days leading up to their fight, Sadykov continuously sent anti-Semitic messages, slurs, and pictures to Aronov, including images of Hitler paired with messages like “I’m going to burn you like he did” and “I’m going to kill you.” Rather than responding with anything hateful, Aronov waited for the day of the fight and let his fists do the talking, knocking out Sadykov in only the first round. Aronov comes from a family of Holocaust survivors and considers this a double victory.