Earlier this month, Pro Grappler Haisam Rida made headlines when he prevented a robbery of his car. According to reports, Rida was asleep at the BJJ academy B Team in Texas.
He was alerted to someone rummaging through his back seat, which he could verify on the security cameras. At this point, Rida took off after the robber, knowing his passport was among his belongings in his car.
“I was taking a nap. Usually, that’s what I do between classes, and Ghandour came in. I think when he was walking into work, he saw someone in the back of my car just digging through stuff.”
“This guy had my fanny pack. My fanny pack had, like, my passport, debit card, you know, very expensive…”
“I foot swept him. He fell to the canvas.”
“He kept trying to move and escape, so I choked him from behind. When the cop got there, I told them my story and he made it look way worse than it was, you know. He pretended like he was unconscious and all that stuff, but the cops know that they deal with guys like that all the time.”
Deashi Barai is a term used in Japanese martial arts, specifically in Judo. It refers to a throwing technique where the attacker sweeps their opponent’s leg (usually the forward leg) with their own leg in a sweeping motion, causing them to lose balance and fall backward. Deashi Barai is also known as “Forward Foot Sweep” or “Advanced Sweep” in English. It is a fundamental technique used to off-balance an opponent and create an opportunity for further attacks or control in a Judo match or self-defense situation.
As we can see here, it’s very efficient. Surveillance footage corroborates Rida’s story. THe team was initially reluctant to release the footage to not cause legal issues for Rida but it seems that legal jeopardy is minimal since they opted to release it after all.
Luckily, nobody was injured, so the police took the thief into custody and assured Rida that he had nothing to worry about. Rida has an interesting story. He’s a Ghana native who spent his childhood in Tokyo. He recently joined B Team.
Rida first broke out on the pro BJJ scene when he participated in Sakuraba’s Quintet. More recently, Rida made a lasting impression when he submitted former ADCC champion Roberto Cyborg Abreu at ADCC 2022.
