Suspected burglar picks the wrong house to break into, MMA fighter takes him down
A suspected burglar trying to break into a house in San Diego found himself in a chokehold when the homeowner's son, an MMA fighter, chased him down and pinned him to the ground.
Sergio Hernandez Jr. says he spotted a strange man on his father's property on Tuesday and sprung into action. Hernandez told the San Diego Union-Tribune he was shocked to see the man standing in the backyard near an open window with the screen lying on the ground. He chased the suspect down the block and eventually caught up to him.
A neighbor captured video of what happened after the chase. "This piece of sh** was breaking into my Dads house right now," Hernandez wrote on Instagram, sharing the video the neighbor took. "He ran down the alley and I caught up to him. I brought him back to my Dads house and then he tried to escape. I threw him to the ground using what little judo I know, then put him in a triangle until the cops showed up."
Hernandez said he did a judo throw to get the man on the ground. The man tried to get up, and that's when Hernandez put him in what he calls a "triangle choke," with his legs wrapped around the suspect's neck. He guessed that the would-be thief weighed about 50 pounds more than him, but he was no match for the experienced fighter.
Hernandez, who owns a tattoo shop, says he's been doing jiu jitsu for 13 years and he's a black belt, which explains how he knew these technical moves.
A post shared by Sergio Hernandez (@splurgeo) on
"He said he had a two year old and he didn't want to be separated from his kid. I felt bad about that," Hernandez wrote on Instagram.
He told The San Diego Union-Tribune that his dad said he should call police so he did, keeping the suspect pinned to the ground until they showed up.
"I'm not a hero, I was just doing what everybody else would've done. Fortunately for me, I know how to do jiu jitsu so I didn't have to get hurt or hurt somebody else more than I had to," Hernandez said.