Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC/GettyA 26-year-old female MMA fighter made sure a would-be mugger paid a painful price for trying to snatch her phone over the weekend.Polyana Viana, a UFC fighter living in Rio de Janeiro, said she was waiting for an Uber ride on Saturday night when a man approached her from behind.“When he saw I saw him, he sat next to me,” Viana claimed toMMAJunkie. “He asked me the time, I said it, and I saw he wasn’t going to leave. So I already moved to put my cell phone in my waist.”As Viana — who has a 10-2 MMA record, and a 1-1 record in the UFC — tried to put away her phone, the brazen mugger allegedly made his move.“Then he said, ‘Give me the phone. Don’t try to react, because I’m armed,’ ” she told the outlet. “Then he put his hand over (a gun), but I realized it was too soft.”That’s when Viana’s fighter instincts kicked in.“He was really close to me,” Viana told the outlet. “So I thought, ‘If it’s a gun, he won’t have time to draw it.’ ”RELATED VIDEO: The Most Expensive Stadiums Built in the U.S.“So I stood up. I threw two punches and a kick. He fell, then I caught him in a rear-naked choke,” she claimed. “Then I sat him down in the same place we were before and said, ‘Now we’ll wait for the police.’ ”Though she suspected the would-be thief did not have a real gun, she still wasn’t sure if he was armed with another weapon, such as a knife, so she placed the mugger in an MMA hold and kept him in complete control until police finally arrived, Viana claimed.“I was fine,” Viana toldMMAJunkie. “I was fine because he didn’t even react after. Since he took the punches very quickly, I think he was scared. So he didn’t react anymore.”She continued to the outlet: “He told me to let him go, like ‘I just asked for the time.’ I said, ‘Asked for the time my ass,’ because he saw I was very angry. I said I wouldn’t let go and that I was going to call the police … He said, ‘Call the police, then’ because he was scared I was going to beat him up more.”Viana would later learn that the thief was only armed with a cardboard cut-out of a gun, according to MMAJunkie.Neither Viana nor Rio de Janeiro police immediately responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC/Getty
A 26-year-old female MMA fighter made sure a would-be mugger paid a painful price for trying to snatch her phone over the weekend.Polyana Viana, a UFC fighter living in Rio de Janeiro, said she was waiting for an Uber ride on Saturday night when a man approached her from behind.“When he saw I saw him, he sat next to me,” Viana claimed toMMAJunkie. “He asked me the time, I said it, and I saw he wasn’t going to leave. So I already moved to put my cell phone in my waist.”As Viana — who has a 10-2 MMA record, and a 1-1 record in the UFC — tried to put away her phone, the brazen mugger allegedly made his move.“Then he said, ‘Give me the phone. Don’t try to react, because I’m armed,’ ” she told the outlet. “Then he put his hand over (a gun), but I realized it was too soft.”That’s when Viana’s fighter instincts kicked in.“He was really close to me,” Viana told the outlet. “So I thought, ‘If it’s a gun, he won’t have time to draw it.’ ”RELATED VIDEO: The Most Expensive Stadiums Built in the U.S.“So I stood up. I threw two punches and a kick. He fell, then I caught him in a rear-naked choke,” she claimed. “Then I sat him down in the same place we were before and said, ‘Now we’ll wait for the police.’ ”Though she suspected the would-be thief did not have a real gun, she still wasn’t sure if he was armed with another weapon, such as a knife, so she placed the mugger in an MMA hold and kept him in complete control until police finally arrived, Viana claimed.“I was fine,” Viana toldMMAJunkie. “I was fine because he didn’t even react after. Since he took the punches very quickly, I think he was scared. So he didn’t react anymore.”She continued to the outlet: “He told me to let him go, like ‘I just asked for the time.’ I said, ‘Asked for the time my ass,’ because he saw I was very angry. I said I wouldn’t let go and that I was going to call the police … He said, ‘Call the police, then’ because he was scared I was going to beat him up more.”Viana would later learn that the thief was only armed with a cardboard cut-out of a gun, according to MMAJunkie.Neither Viana nor Rio de Janeiro police immediately responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
A 26-year-old female MMA fighter made sure a would-be mugger paid a painful price for trying to snatch her phone over the weekend.
Polyana Viana, a UFC fighter living in Rio de Janeiro, said she was waiting for an Uber ride on Saturday night when a man approached her from behind.
“When he saw I saw him, he sat next to me,” Viana claimed toMMAJunkie. “He asked me the time, I said it, and I saw he wasn’t going to leave. So I already moved to put my cell phone in my waist.”
As Viana — who has a 10-2 MMA record, and a 1-1 record in the UFC — tried to put away her phone, the brazen mugger allegedly made his move.
“Then he said, ‘Give me the phone. Don’t try to react, because I’m armed,’ ” she told the outlet. “Then he put his hand over (a gun), but I realized it was too soft.”
That’s when Viana’s fighter instincts kicked in.
“He was really close to me,” Viana told the outlet. “So I thought, ‘If it’s a gun, he won’t have time to draw it.’ ”
RELATED VIDEO: The Most Expensive Stadiums Built in the U.S.
“So I stood up. I threw two punches and a kick. He fell, then I caught him in a rear-naked choke,” she claimed. “Then I sat him down in the same place we were before and said, ‘Now we’ll wait for the police.’ ”
Though she suspected the would-be thief did not have a real gun, she still wasn’t sure if he was armed with another weapon, such as a knife, so she placed the mugger in an MMA hold and kept him in complete control until police finally arrived, Viana claimed.
“I was fine,” Viana toldMMAJunkie. “I was fine because he didn’t even react after. Since he took the punches very quickly, I think he was scared. So he didn’t react anymore.”
She continued to the outlet: “He told me to let him go, like ‘I just asked for the time.’ I said, ‘Asked for the time my ass,’ because he saw I was very angry. I said I wouldn’t let go and that I was going to call the police … He said, ‘Call the police, then’ because he was scared I was going to beat him up more.”
Viana would later learn that the thief was only armed with a cardboard cut-out of a gun, according to MMAJunkie.
Neither Viana nor Rio de Janeiro police immediately responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
source: people.com
