Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and grappling sports such as Wrestling and Judo are great tools for bouncers as they are able to control an unruly individual without having to strike.
Holding someone down while waiting for the police to come is also a legal and civilized way to neutralize an aggressor. We have seen so many cases of bouncers that have punched clients and have put them in comas so BJJ and grappling is the safest option.

This weekend in Vermont, BJJ purple belt Gavin Wageman, and instructor at United Fighting Arts Institute (UFAI), was able to use his BJJ training to neutralize an aggressive passerby in front of the club where he was bouncing.

Wageman told Jiujitsutimes.com:

I was working the door last night (I check ID’s and keep out trouble), and this guy who was causing problems with people in line and passersby in the street was pissed that we weren’t letting him in. He was a harassing myself and another bouncer with the usual insults (“little ****,” “look at my life,” “you’re a piece of sh*t,” etc.), and at one point I turned away to let more people in from the line and he tried to bolt in.

The other bouncer caught him and started pushing him back outside, and that’s when he started throwing haymakers at him. Thomas (the other bouncer) blocked them and shoved him into me, and I grabbed him from behind and uke waza’d (my favorite takedown from rear) him to the ground. After that the grappling brain sort of just clicked, and as he righted himself, I followed with him, put in hooks, and locked in the RNC.

He lifted his head, and muscle memory demanded that I finish it, but I calibrated instantly once I felt this guy had no clue wtf he was doing and that I knew the fight was over. Dude didn’t deserve a merciless *** kicking. I just hung on to him and let him burn himself out, and eventually he just chilled out.

It was like wrestling with a baby. Cops did a great job and were on the scene very quickly and got the guy out of there. Bouncers helped keep the crowd from swarming me as that tends to happen. But at the end of the day everyone got home safely with all their limbs intact.

Here is the footage of the encounter. We applaud Wageman for being a responsible BJJ practitioner and ambassador of the sport!

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