Overview

• Paddy McCorry, 27, defeated Israel’s Shuki Farage at Cage Warriors 189 in Rome on May 31, punctuating the finish with repeated shouts of “Free Palestine.”
• Video of McCorry’s chants alongside the audience echoing the slogan has triggered a divided online response over the role of political protest in sports.
• Shuki Farage, previously undefeated and a former Israel Defense Forces member, faced scrutiny after photos surfaced of him in military uniform in Gaza.
• Following online backlash, Farage deactivated his social media accounts while McCorry shared match footage captioned “Street Justice” with Irish and Palestinian flags.
• The incident unfolded against a backdrop of Gaza’s deepening humanitarian crisis, which has put all residents at risk of catastrophic hunger and included an airstrike near Rafah that killed at least 30 people over the weekend.