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22nd Jul 2022

MMA fighter praised by UFC stars for way he calmly and expertly defends himself in street fight

Steve Hopkins

Viktor Lyall has been applauded for the way he ‘keeps constant awareness of not being surrounded and punched from a blind spot’

An MMA fighter has been praised for stepping in to prevent a man being “stomped on” in an alleyway before dealing with his attackers calmly and decisively when they came after him.

In video circulating on social media, Australian mixed martial artist Viktor Lyall appears to be confronted by two men and a woman on a night out.

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According to some posts, the “back story” is that the two men had got into an earlier altercation and Lyall came to that man’s aid.

The video shows the two men, one shirtless, trying to goad Lyall into a fight, with one of them picking up a plastic chair and threatening to hit him with it while hurling abuse.

A woman with the duo, is heard saying “it’s not worth it”, while also hurling insults and saying that “my dad is a bodybuilder and he will f***** flatten you.”

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Lyall remains calm throughout, careful to keep an eye on both men and ensures they can’t surround him, or get behind him as he requests they stop following him.

Lyall eventually give the shirtless man a slap to the face and implores him to “fuck off”, gesturing with his hand for the man to leave.

When the men start circling Lyall again before he deftly kicks the shirtless man in the head, dropping him to the pavement.

The altercation doesn’t end there though. The shirtless man approaches again with his friend, and spits at Lyall who then tries to kick him as the man’s friend attempts to sucker punch him.

Lyall then swings on that man, before the shirtless man swings on him again, before getting knocked back to the ground.

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Australia, like a lot of cities, has had problems with fighting breaking out on streets that have at times resulted in deaths.

In 2014, the offence of “unlawful striking causing death” – more commonly known as the one punch law – to address a perceived gap in criminal law. A Sydney man became the first to be jailed under the law in 2017, and was handed a 10-year sentence.

Rather than condemning those involved in this altercation, the focus has fallen on Lyall and the way he handled the situation and only acted in self-defence when he had to.

Some of those to praise his response, including members of the combat sport community.

BKFC star Bec Rodriguez posted the clip, saying: “Not all heroes wear capes. *back story* these two grubs were bashing a guy in the alley way, stomping on him when @impalervikki intervened & handed them some street justice!!”

Former UFC fighter Suman Mokhtarian commented: “There’s nothing that makes me happier! I found my new street hero @impalervikki you SK ???”

Boxing world champion Shannon Briggs added: “They fight different in #brownsville #LETSGOCHAMP”

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While MMA fighter Raquel Canuto wrote: “This was painful to watch lol i wish the guy in red got more lol and the girl… my gosh.” And Conor McGregor’s training partner Peter Queally simply said: “Superb.”

An Instagram account called Srikebreakdown branded the video the “best self defence video i’ve seen in a long time”.

“With his experience in MMA and security industry, he keeps constant awareness of not being surrounded and punched from a blind spot,” a caption on the video reads.

“They follow him with constant threats, and after a warning shot they engage. Wrong person to pick on. Far too many trained athletes do not stay aware of these type of scenarios and pay the price for it in similar situations.”

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