Martial arts training helps not only the student, but also all those that come into contact with him.  Realistic martial arts training allows a student to stay calm in even the most chaotic of situations.  Here is the story of an ordinary Poughkeepsie Man who was able to use his martial arts training to help his fellow man.

Precision MMA Student uses his Techniques to Stop an Attack

My name is Joe Bottiglieri, and I turned 40 this past August. I am a husband, father to three daughters and a Marine Corps Veteran. I started training near Poughkeepsie, NY under Brian McLaughlin at Precision MMA. I am currently ranked a one-stripe Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The impact BJJ has had on my life has been nothing short of extraordinary and extremely positive.

While driving home from Poughkeepsie a few weeks ago, I stopped at a gas station to get something to drink. As I was walking in, I noticed two groups of people speaking to each other in what could only be described as a highly agitated manner. As I was leaving the store, the situation had escalated to a violent state. Someone had taken a swing at a female over an insult resulted in two guys from one group physically assaulting a single guy from the other. They wrestled him to the ground and crouched over him, punching and kicking him wildly. While the individual was on the ground, he was screaming at his friends for help – but nobody was doing anything.
I make it a point to avoid this type of violence unless absolutely necessary and in this case, I felt it was appropriate to get involved. I dropped my stuff and started telling the individuals to get off of him, which they did not do. I got closer and struck the attacker facing me in the side of his head with an open palm, to avoid doing any serious damage to his nose, eyes or face. He stood up a bit and looked at me. In an aggressive tone, I told him to get off of him. This seemed to register and he stopped. The other attacker had his back to me and was still punching the victim. When I tried pulling him off he didn‘t budge. I slid my left arm around his neck and over the bicep of my right arm and started cinching up a rear-naked choke, while telling him that was enough. I was worried that the other attacker might try to sucker-punch me at this point but he wasn‘t budging. I kept tightening the choke on him until he stopped punching. At that point I slid him back a little bit and released the choke. He landed on his butt and scrambled to his feet. I could easily have put him to sleep but applying the choke with control until he stopped was more than effective. I don‘t think he wanted to find out how much tighter I could have made it.
I was prepared to defend myself if need be and to be honest – I was really worried that one of them might have a knife or a gun, but that wasn‘t the case. Realizing the police might arrive the attackers quickly ran towards their car. The victim on the ground was back on his feet at this point and started after the attackers. His friends and I held him back and advised him to get their license plate number along with the make and model of their car.

While I wish things like this wouldn‘t happen, I‘ve been around long enough to know that they will and usually when you least expect it. If there‘s a positive in any of this, it‘s that nobody was seriously injured and I was able to remain relatively calm and apply fundamental BJJ in a real-life situation. As a result I prevented several people from receiving injuries far worse than a few bruises and scrapes. Applying the techniques on the attacker was no different than live grappling in class at Precision MMA because we always train realistically with fully-resisting opponents. Without my martial arts training, I might have used more force to stop the assault and as a result, caused more injury to either of the individuals involved, which could have escalated the level of violence.

Joe used his Poughkeepsie martial arts training to keep those around him safe.  If you’d like to learn martial arts in Poughkeepsie, NY check out Precision MMA FREE for 30 Days call 845-392-8495 or visit http://www.poughkeepsiemixedmartialarts.com