MMA fighter Ro Malabanan, who used his training last week to subdue an alleged assault suspect in Manhattan, gave a few fighting tips to fellow New Yorkers in a series of videos since his brush with vigilantism.
The Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt showed The Post three moves that could be used to tame a would-be attacker from his gym days after he knocked down 28-year-old Samuel Frazier after seeing him punch a construction worker in Soho.
The first move Malabanan showed was a choking move with his sparring partner. He grabbed his partner from behind—the same way he confronted Frazier—and held his right arm around his neck.
“I trained myself so many times in the gym that I go straight to [to the choke move] because that’s really where we live, as far as jiu-jitsu practitioners are… we’re trying to end the fight as soon as possible,” he said.
“So as soon as I get here,” he said, putting his arm around his partner’s throat, “I’ll be [at] the neck.”
“However, I’m so glad that on the street it dawned on me that I can’t…so I went straight for the choke…and switched to the arms. So much is happening, it is happening so fast. It’s crazy.”
The martial arts and boxing instructor then performed a ground grab used to gain control over an opponent, approaching his partner perpendicular from the side while lying on his back. He wrapped his left arm behind his partner’s neck and joined his hands with his right arm across his torso.
Of course his opponent tries to push him away.
“As he starts to push me off him, which he should—if I don’t handle this…I’m going to lose everything,” he said, his hands lifting off the floor.
In jiu-jitsu he said, ‘As soon as I feel him start to loosen his neck, I immediately switch to what is called a choke. And from this position I have control over his wrists”, as he grabs them, before clinging in a ‘north-south’ and starting to squeeze hard.
He goes low, changes “his level” and tackles his partner, who is now on his back. He straddled him and grabbed control of his wrists.
“This is what is called a mountain. And here I only have wrist control, so if he or she has a weapon, I can hold this position.”
Malabanan used his skills last Wednesday to detain Frazier — a homeless man who attacked a 50-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy “unprovoked,” the NYPD said.
The Filipino fighter pinned Frazier on the sidewalk in front of the Converse flagship store on Broadway in Soho’s shopping district, footage shows.
Other outraged victims then began attacking the neutralized suspect, but Malabanan asked them to stop and call the police instead, he said in an Instagram video following the incident.
Malabanan, who was not questioned by police because he was late for work, said he believes there were at least six people who attacked Frazier.
Frazier was booked and charged with two counts of assault, according to police.
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