Instagram/@polyanaviana
Don’t mess with UFC strawweight Polyana Viana. In fact, don’t mess with any trained professional fighter. One man in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil apparently learned his lesson the hard way over the weekend, according to a report from MMAjunkie.com.
Viana says that she was waiting for an Uber outside of her apartment complex when she was approached by a suspicious man.
The man allegedly demanded the 26-year-old’s phone while he claimed to be armed.
That’s when Viana took the opportunity to punch the man twice and kick him, before choking him and keeping the man in place until police arrived. Photos on social media show a badly beaten man who was the alleged would-be mugger.
“When he saw I saw him, he sat next to me,” Viana told MMAJunkie. “He asked me the time. I said it, and I saw he wasn’t going to leave. So, I already moved to put my cellphone in my waist. And then he said, ‘Give me the phone. Don’t try to react, because I’m armed.’ Then he put his hand over [a gun], but I realized it was too soft.
“He was really close to me. So, I thought, ‘If it’s a gun, he won’t have time to draw it.’ So, I stood up. I threw two punches and a kick. He fell, then I caught him in a rear-naked choke. Then I sat him down in the same place we were before and said, ‘Now we’ll wait for the police.'”
Viana, who holds a 10-2 record in her professional career, was not injured in the incident. The man, however, was transferred to a local hospital.
