Burglars Break Into MMA Gym, Confronted by MMA Fighters

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on August 20, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

A pair of Texas fighters foiled an attempted MMA gym burglary, and they really didn't even have to lift a finger.

The badly timed break-in took place about 3 a.m., when two mixed martial arts fighters had just wrapped up a late-night training session, San Antonio's KSAT-TV reports.

"We're just kind of sitting down, drinking water, ... and we start to hear pounding on this door," one of the fighters told KSAT.

The MMA fighters say they pounded back, but the pounding from outside the gym's back door continued. Eventually, the MMA gym burglars switched their attention to the building's garage door.

The alert fighters grabbed some weights and got ready for a fight. But they didn't even get a chance to put their MMA skills to practice.

As soon as one of the burglars got the garage door to open, he caught sight of the MMA fighters and took off running. The fighters called police.

Officers caught the alleged burglar rounding a corner with a hatchet in his hand, KSAT-TV reports. They caught a second alleged burglar trying to hide in a parking lot.

While burglary is most commonly associated with theft, in general the crime only requires an unlawful entry into a building with the intent to commit a crime inside.

That's why the alleged attempted burglars -- Adrian Sanchez, 22, and Karl Rogers, 21 -- probably don't stand a fighting chance in court. It's possible a round of additional charges may be coming, perhaps for taking part in a criminal conspiracy.

As the alleged MMA gym burglars figure out their defense, they should count themselves lucky they didn't go face-to-face against the MMA fighters. "If he would have tried to rough me up or something, ... I feel confident I would have come out on top," one fighter told KSAT-TV.

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