Pastor Trained in MMA Wrestles Ax-Wielding Burglar to the Ground on Thanksgiving

One pastor from California is extra thankful this year for his training in mixed martial arts.

Pastor Nick Neves of Family First Church in Antioch, a city in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, confronted a would-be thief carrying an ax on Thanksgiving morning last Thursday after the unnamed intruder broke into the church’s building.

“I shouted at him to stop, and that the police were on their way, and he ran and I grabbed ahold of him and we ended up wrestling in the parking lot of the church,” Neves told NBC News.

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When he was first approached by Neves, the unnamed attempted burglar tried fighting the preacher — but he was not very successful.

“I like to stay fit, and I studied in some jujitsu and kickboxing and I have a mixed martial arts background,” said Neves. “So it was very helpful to be able to grapple with this gentleman without having to do much harm to him.”

The pair wrestled for about 15 minutes before the would-be thief gave up until police arrived. Neves said he was able to pin the man to the ground and, although he got up and tried to get away a few times, the pastor never seriously injured the intruder.

“I knew I could outlast him,” the pastor said.

One of the church’s longtime attendees, Jeff Strawther, said the ordeal “could’ve gone in a totally different direction and we thank God that it didn’t,” calling Neves a “very tough” man the church is “grateful” to have as their pastor.

The preacher said it’s “ironic” that the burglar attempted to break in to steal things from the church on Thanksgiving Day, especially since his congregation prides itself on providing meals to those in need in their community.

In fact, churchgoers had just given away groceries to 130 families in need earlier in the week.

“If he had come a couple of days earlier, he would have been blessed and get some food and be cared for,” Neves said. “But he decided instead to smash windows and desecrate property and do something that’s going to hurt the ministries.”

The pastor said he hopes this incident serves as a wake-up call to the criminal.

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