Many people who train martial arts quickly learn that the last thing they want is to get into a situation in which they have to use what they’ve learned to defend themselves, but that’s exactly the scenario that BJJ black belt Kyle Braun of Main Line United in Ardmore, PA was forced into when he was aggressively confronted by a (banned) customer at the grocery store where he works as a manager.
According to Braun’s comments on the security camera footage he posted, the man involved in the altercation frequently comes into the store to shoplift, so Braun told him to leave and not come back. Instead, the man continued to return to the store, and when Braun “nicely asked him to leave,” things got heated.
The footage shows the man spitting in Braun’s face and physically threatening him before taking a swing. But Braun was ready and brought the man to the floor with a takedown, then moving to knee-on-belly to control him.
Both men apparently came away from the situation relatively uninjured, but Braun says that the man had a “vice grip on his balls” and also shared a photo of a bruise that he says came from the man biting him during the scuffle.
Although there was also a security guard present, Braun’s training made him the more equipped person to handle the situation as it escalated. When asked by a commenter why the security guard had stood by to let him handle the customer, Braun replied, “He knows I’m trained, and would have just been in my way. He did the right thing, as far as I’m concerned.”
After multiple people jumped on the thread critiquing how Braun had handled the altercation, he added additional commentary to his initial caption:
“I think some people are missing the point, maybe because I didn’t make it well enough; This wasn’t ideal self defense, I definitely let this guy get way too close to me (multiple times), and probably would have been justified in putting my hands on him after the first time he spit on me. I had every reason to show as much restraint as possible, I was at work (not “on the street”), being filmed, had a small crowd gathered of both customers and my employees, I HATE violence and this is already an ugly scene, and this is *literally* my first “fight”. I’ve never in my life come to blows with anyone that I wasn’t training with or in a cage/ring with along with a referee. I HATE confrontation, and honestly, I was scared throughout this entire thing. I basically froze. But, jiu jitsu is so simple in its application and so efficient practically that it can let someone, like me, who’s never been in this situation, defend myself pretty effectively. So, all the wanna be cops and would-be master assassins can keep those critiques to themselves. Yes, you would have murdered anyone who even looked like he MAY have spit on someone at some point, I get it. I spend most of my time pulling guard, so shut up.”
Watch the clip below:
“Reason #34,569 to train jiu jitsu; this guy spit in my face 3 times, threw punches, bit me, and tried to rip jacobs off with his hand, and despite having every opportunity to smash his skull in, NEITHER of us were ever in any danger; guy had no clue how to defend against even rudimentary jiu jitsu, and I had no intention to allow him to be hurt. I just restrained him by myself, and let the police take him. If you do anything that puts you in regular contact with strangers off the street, you owe it to yourself to know how to defend yourself. If anyone in Facebook land wants to learn, HMU, and I’ll connect you. Or, just come to Mainline United in Ardmore every Wednesday and Thursday at 6am to learn from the source itself:) “
