A 125 lbs (56.7 kg) female MMA athlete Angela Smith found herself in a terrifying situation when a man broke into her home in the middle of the night. Rather than freezing in fear, she did what years of martial arts training had prepared her for: she attacked back.
In an interview with Rob from McDojoLife, Smith recounted waking up to a stranger opening her bedroom door. “I woke up in the middle of the night to somebody opening my bedroom door,” she said. “The only reason I think I woke up is when he opened the door, the nightlight outside the door hit my eyes.”
What she saw next was deeply unsettling: a man standing in her doorway, staring at her with a smile on his face.
Despite the alarming circumstances, her first instinct was remarkably composed. “What went through my head was I was actually like, damn, I’m so tired,” she recalled. “And I was like, all right, okay. I have to do this.”
She jumped up, confronted the intruder, and punched him in the face when he failed to respond.
The intruder was estimated to be between 175 and 195 lbs (79.4 to 88.5 kg) and between 5’11” and 6’2″, making him considerably larger than Smith. Size, however, proved no match for technique and years of consistent training. She pinned his arm, continued striking him, swept his legs, and ultimately choked him unconscious.
“I choked him out so he was unconscious, but at the same time I didn’t want to k*ll him because I felt very dominant the entire time,” she explained. “There’s no point that I was afraid in the physical exchange.”
Smith had been training since 2013 in judo, jiu-jitsu, and boxing, and was just ten days away from her first amateur MMA match when the incident occurred. She was, by her own account, physically peaking for competition, which may have worked decidedly in her favor.
After rendering the intruder unconscious, she dragged him outside. Police arrived approximately 30 minutes later and found him crawling through a back alley behind her home. He was arrested and later pleaded insanity in court. Smith also discovered he had multiple prior felonies and was already facing 25 to life on an unrelated case.
When asked what part of her training proved most valuable, Smith was direct: “100% sparring. I think if you don’t spar for real, you don’t know how to fig ht.”
She also credited jiu-jitsu as the most effective discipline for one-on-one self-defense, pointing out that a well-applied choke ends a confrontation in a way that punches alone often cannot.
Her advice for those who do not train: “If you don’t train, obviously the best thing to have is some type of weapon, and also be willing to use it.”
For those who can train, she stressed consistency and regularly putting yourself in uncomfortable situations during practice. Smith trains at Lobos Boxing under coaches Eddie Arzola and Landra Gomez.
