Jackson-Wink fighter stops thief on camera

Bantamweight Saul Elizondo moved to Albuquerque, NM from Mission, TX six months ago, lured by the opportunity to grapple with the deepest stable on the planet, at Jackson-Wink MMA. He put his skills to a different use, when he walked into a Circle K gas station on Tuesday.

His fighter instinct kicked in the moment he walked into the store, he told Candace Hopkins for KRQE.com. Something was wrong.

A man and woman inside the store were trying to shoplift, and were confronted by a clerk. The store’s security camera captured the moment when Elizondo realized the clerk was in danger, and with uncanny timing, took action.

As the alleged shoplifted cocked his arm to strike, Elizondo ended it, with the same precision John McCarthy stops the action in the Octagon.

Honestly, it just happened so quickly,” said Elizondo. “It was crazy.

I kinda had a feeling that something was happening, as a fighter… As soon as he brought his hand back I just like, rushed the guy. I caught him from behind and I kinda like, took him down and I took his back and kinda controlled the situation before he would hurt the people who work there.

I kinda just reacted, some of my friends are saying I’m a hero but I really don’t think I was a hero at all. I consider myself a martial artist and I know that any other of my martial artist colleagues would’ve done the same thing.”

It felt weird training with all these monsters here and grabbing this guy here felt like grabbing a little child, like I was playing with a little kid.”