WATCH: MMA fighters stop armed robbery at hotel

This article is part of a much larger effort by MixedMartialArts.com to understand what really works, by observing the application of martial arts outside the arena, on streets, or in this case, in a hotel lobby. If you liked the story, check out more on:
• Martial Arts on The Street;
• Mutual Combat; and the opposite …
• Bullchido.

Two MMA fighters and BJJ competitors from Oregon arrived in Los Angeles for the 2011 No-Gi Mundials in Long Beach, California. They were able to stop an armed robbery in progress, and hold the criminal until police arrived, all with no harm to anyone.

Brent Alvarez, 33, a black belt in 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, owned the Twisted Web mixed martial arts studio in Eugene, Oregon; Billy Denney, 28, is one of his students. Both are members of The Underground.

The duo was getting off the elevator late on a Saturday night when they spotted the suspect forcing the motel clerk at gunpoint to empty the cash drawer.

“Gun! He robbed me!” yelled the clerk.

Alvarez saw a flash of a handgun before the perpetrator stuffed it into a bag, along with the money. Alvarez has over a decade of training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and extensive real-world experience defusing conflict as a bouncer. He secured a body lock and then a chokehold, and waited for police to arrive.

The suspect did not seem intent on harm, and repeatedly said he was doing it for his daughter, at one point asking to be released so he could kiss her one last time.

“He wasn’t trying to punch us,” said Alvarez. “He just seemed like someone who had run out of options. I think back now and wonder what the hell was I doing? I should have hit him and knocked him out.”

The CCTV footage lets you see the events as they unfold. It doesn’t happen like a Steven Seagal movie, or a gun defense technique taught in the gym.

This is the reality of an armed robber being safely captured by a highly trained martial artist. Or two of them.

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