Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport that boasts several fearless fighters and personalities.
Top organisations such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bellator, One FC, RIZIN FF and others comprise several great martial arts practitioners, who never cease to amaze us with their skill and will.
However, a select few gems of people transcend the boundaries of run-of-the-mill fisticuffs. Their acts and bravery aren’t limited to the MMA ring/cage. Today we take a look at a few such amazing MMA personalities, who have saved lives through their acts of courage and selflessness:
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#5 Miesha Tate saves Bryan Caraway’s mother
Miesha ‘Cupcake’ Tate (19-7) is a former UFC and Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight champion, with an MMA base of wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). Tate and the Caraway family’s Mexican vacation story is one for the ages.
Back in 2014, Caraway decided to treat his parents to a vacation in the tropical paradise of Cancun in the Carribean-sea for a snorkelling trip. Caraway’s mother, a 60-year-old asthmatic woman, went to said trip, fully equipped with 2 inhaler-pumps.
All was well and good until a commotion broke out amongst the snorkelers, resulting in his mom panicking and swimming with all her might back to the boat. This left her completely exhausted and out of breath. To make matters worse, one of her inhaler-pumps got lost in the water during the commotion.
Caraway and Tate returned to the boat in a hurry and none of the CPR-methods used by the snorkelers seemed to be working on his mother.
This was when Miesha, in a pure stroke of brilliance, inhaled puffs from the 2nd inhaler and delivered mouth-to-mouth on the woman, clearing her breathing pathways and enabling her to breathe once again.
Miesha Tate’s aforementioned CPR method was later studied by several qualified medical professionals, being lauded as a legitimate life-saving resuscitation technique!
#4 Jake Shields saves a man at a political rally
Jake Shields (31-9-1-1) is a former Strikeforce Middleweight champion and EliteXC and Shooto Welterweight champion; with an MMA base of BJJ, wrestling and Shooto.
The POTUS election has been one hell of a circus and continues to be the gift that keeps on giving.
At a recent anti-Trump rally, Shields witnessed a man getting beaten mercilessly by a group of protesters. With several civilians as well as police officers present at the scene, he found it shocking that not a single person in the crowd came forward to stop the thugs.
Nevertheless, our hero jumped in and used his vast MMA knowledge to defend himself and the victim, stopping the gang of brutes in their tracks. A few moments later, another fight broke out and when Shields approached the cops for help, they outright refused to get involved in the melee.
Some of the aforementioned thugs claimed that the victim was a racist ‘Nazi’ and was hurling racist insults at everybody at the rally; although they had no proof to back up said claims.
The UC Berkeley riots featured MMA’s own ‘Skrap Pack’ ninja who served to defuse, albeit to a certain extent, what could have been a life-threatening situation for the man.
Jake Shields’ bravery in the face of the UC Berkeley riots lands him the 4th spot on our list!
#3 Guy Mezger saves a woman from a knife-wielding maniac
Guy ‘The Sandman’ Mezger (30-14-2-2) is a former world champion karateka, kick-boxer and retired MMA fighter; with a base of karate, kickboxing and submission wrestling.
On the eve of an office Christmas party in 2011, Mezger witnessed a man hitting a young woman, whilst hurling obscenities at her. Despite the presence of several people outside the sports store in Dallas, Texas, not one soul had the guts to help the downed woman.
That’s where Mezger intervened and tried his best to calmly diffuse the situation, trying to talk some sense into the enraged man.
Regardless, the man took a swing at ‘The Sandman’, and as one can expect, got handily stopped by the karateka who hit the aggressor with a head-and-arm throw; dropping him to the ground and knocking him out with the slam’s impact.
While Mezger was tending to the scared woman, the man who’d regained his senses by then tried to blindside Mezger with a knife; but got shoved away by the MMA veteran. The knife slashed Guy Mezger’s left hand, ripping apart three tendons.
Mezger then punched him with his right hand, knocking him out for the second time. Our MMA hero went back to consoling the sobbing woman when once again the psychopath tried to grab his knife.
This time, though, ‘The Sandman’ was alert and kicked the knife farther away from the crawling maniac, proceeding to restrain him till the cops arrived.
Guy Mezger’s brave resistance against a weapon-wielding maniac lands him the 3rd spot on our list!
#2 Ricky Lundell and Todd Prace save a man in front of his wife and child
Ricky Lundell is a 2-time Pancrase (Submission wrestling) champion and 1-time Absolute Pancrase world champion. He is a well-known BJJ and wrestling trainer for elite MMA athletes namely Jon Jones, Travis Browne, Frank Mir and several others.
At the time of the following incident, Todd Prace was the assistant wrestling coach at Bishop Gorman HS, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Prace is also an ex-US marine.
On what they thought would be a normal Tuesday afternoon in October of 2014, Lundell and Prace stopped at a Las Vegas gas station for a Rockstar energy drink and a bottle of water. They got out of their car and noticed a few panicked people screaming for help, with one man shouting out for someone to call 911.
They waded through the crowd only to find an unconscious man whose skin had turned eerily white.
The man’s wife and child were beside him crying inconsolably. Lundell and Prace used their knowledge from their martial arts and army backgrounds, wasting no time in registering CPR to him.
After several minutes of constant efforts, the man began to breathe, after which firefighters arrived at the scene and used medical apparatus to stabilise the man.
The firefighters lauded Ricky Lundell and Todd Prace as heroes and so did everyone else involved in the incident.
#1 Chris Mintz saves several lives with his act of selflessness
Chris Mintz is a US-army veteran and fitness lover who has competed in MMA as an amateur. He is hailed as the hero of the Umpqua Community College (UCC) shootings in Roseburg, Oregon.
Before we proceed, let me make one thing crystal clear- I shall not name the cowardly man who perpetrated the aforementioned atrocities, out of respect for the countless innocent civilians/families affected by this tragedy.
The UCC mass shooting was the deadliest in Oregon’s modern history, resulting in 10 deaths (including the attacker) and 7-9 non-fatal injuries. The attacker’s weaponry included 5 handguns, 1 long gun and a flak jacket/body armour.
The 9-1-1 call was made from the Snyder Hall on the university campus which revealed that the shooting began in Classroom 15, where the English and writing classes were conducted. The perpetrator killed a majority of the students as well as university faculty present inside the classroom and tried to enter the adjoining classroom as well.
This is where Mintz came in, blocking the connecting door with his body and allowing everyone in the adjoining classroom to escape. Mintz also alerted the students in the library to evacuate and came back to the crime scene, telling an injured student to stay down.
The cowardly attacker laid his eyes upon Chris Mintz and shot him 5 times. Mintz pleaded the murderer to spare his life citing his son’s birthday, and his wish to stay alive for his son.
The attacker withdrew to the classroom and was later involved in a shootout with two plainclothes detectives from the Roseburg Police Department; who were the first to arrive at the scene. After being wounded on his right side, the attacker killed himself by a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
Mintz recovered at a local hospital, with his funds being paid by several American citizens courtesy of a GoFundMe account, set up by Mintz’s family.
Chris Mintz miraculously survived and is to this day is regarded as a true American hero.
From Tate’s quick thinking to Shields braving a gang of thugs; Guy Mezger’s Good Samaritan act to Lundell and Prace’s calm and collected approach, only Chris Mintz’s act of sheer selflessness could top such a unique list of heroic acts.
Keep up with our tradition and write to me about MMA practitioners that you feel could’ve made our list.
Keep training and remember kids - A true martial artist never hurts an innocent person.
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