An internationally renowned jiu-jitsu champion has shared footage of the moment he fought a man he says tried to rob him shortly after arriving in New Zealand.
Chris Bower, 46, of the United States, was sightseeing in Auckland on Aug. 30 after flying in for a tournament when he said the man wearing a flannel shirt approached him and demanded money for his son.
The black belt walked away but claims the man followed him for more than a kilometre, even as he began jogging and called out to the public for help to no avail, so he went into a cafe in an attempt to calm the situation.
“It scared the hell out of me because he was right behind me. I could tell something was wrong with him,” Bower told the NZ Herald.
When the man followed him into the cafe, Bower said he had nowhere else to go and didn’t know if he had a gun with him.
The man then allegedly lunged at him, “punching and attacking” him, so Bower said he “did what he was trained to do” and confronted him.
Footage filmed by a bystander shows the pair wrestling on the floor of the cafe before Bower sat on top of the man, whose hands appeared to be bound with his own flannel shirt.
“I’m a trained fighter… I did everything I could to avoid the situation, like running away… but I’m glad I ran into the store so others could see what was going on.”
The footage shows the pair struggling after Bower claims the man demanded money from him and followed him into a cafe before lunging at him.
Mr. Bower runs a martial arts academy in the United States and is a black belt in jiu-jitsu.
Bower said: ‘When he ran at me, I took him down with a double-leg takedown.’
“Once I did, I knocked him unconscious with the man’s shirt in a behind-the-neck choke, a common technique in Brazilian jiu-jitsu to subdue someone. I did this without hurting or hitting him, I got off his back, sat on his chest and told people to call the police.”
When officers arrived, they took the man away and then wrote to Mr Bower to say he had been referred to mental health support services and no charges had been filed.
Police confirmed the martial arts expert’s recollection in a statement.
“Police responded to an altercation at a cafe on Gaunt St. A man had attacked the victim inside the establishment after approaching him on the street. The victim managed to pin the man to the ground before police arrived,” a spokesman said.
‘When our staff arrived on scene, they arrested a 45-year-old man. After reviewing the incident, no charges were filed, but the man was referred to the appropriate agencies for evaluation.
“Fortunately, on this occasion no one was injured as a result of the incident. Our advice to the general public is not to take matters into their own hands. We advise people to seek help wherever possible.”
Mr. Bower runs his own martial arts academy, Bowerhouse MMA, in the United States and has competed in Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions for years, winning gold medals in Brazil, Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal.
He can now add another country to that list after winning gold in the Master 4 middleweight division of the AJP Tour New Zealand National Championships.
