Chicago-based self-defense teacher Zaineb ‘Zee’ Abdulla was asked by fellow Muslim women for tips on defense against a someone grabbing their hijab. A hijab is a head covering worn in public by some Muslim women.

Not finding anything specific, she reached out to Misho Ceko. Ceko holds graduate degrees from the Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and is the COO of the nonprofit Chicago Children’s Choir. He’s also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and owner of Chicago Mixed Martial Arts.

“I tried looking it up, but found nothing,” said Abdulla to Arab American News. “After texting a few of my fighter friends, I eventually connected with Misho Ceko. The Saturday after the election, we met up to develop the moves at Chicago MMA and the very next day, Deaf Planet Soul held our first hate crime survival seminar.”

Abdulla uploaded the “Hijab grab escape” videos to her Facebook account less than two weeks ago. This one is approaching 4,000,000 views.

Another has already broken 300,000 views.

“Both moves must be practiced a lot,” she said. “Success comes from repetition. This needs to become muscle memory, so your body reacts without thinking. Many people assume this won’t work on larger men, but it’s super successful no matter the size [of the attacker]. Both moves are based on Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a sport designed for smaller folks fighting off larger opponents.”

“I’m worried because as prepared as I am to handle a fight, I’m still a fairly small woman and a visible minority living in Trump’s new America. While I feel prepared to handle certain attacks, I don’t know what could happen if I’m outnumbered or faced with someone who has a weapon. There’s no way to prepare for everything.”

TRENDING NEWS

Discover more from MMA Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading