Late Friday night in Phoenix, Arizona, a quiet neighborhood was shaken by the sound of a car barreling down the street at a high rate of speed, only to crash violently into a home.
The driver, in an apparent hit-and-run attempt, tried to flee the scene, but he didn’t count on one key factor: Henry Cejudo, a former UFC champion, lived nearby.
Cejudo is known for his prowess in the octagon. He is a former UFC Flyweight and Bantamweight Champion.
After the accident, he sprang into action, chasing down the driver alongside the homeowner. When the driver struck the neighbor in an attempt to escape, Cejudo stepped in, using his fighting skills to subdue the man.
He used a combination of lifts, drops, and a few well-placed slaps until the police arrived.
“Pretty much all my neighbors came in to fight the situation. I ended up lifting him, dropping him, slapped him around a little bit, and just pretty much controlled him,” Cejudo said.
“He wasn’t that tough.”
Henry Cejudo, Neighborhood Watch Hero
What makes this story remarkable isn’t just Henry Cejudo’s physical intervention but the community spirit that emerged in the chaos. All of the neighbors were involved, and even the homeowner took action.
It’s a testament to the kind of unity that can surface in moments of crisis, with Cejudo leading the charge not as a lone hero, but as part of a collective effort to protect the neighborhood.
The suspect, who Cejudo nonchalantly described as “not that tough,” clearly underestimated the resolve of a neighborhood bolstered by a man who’s faced some of the world’s fiercest fighters.
Thankfully, no one was in the room where the car crashed, and Cejudo noted that a stroke of luck could have turned the incident deadly.
“If someone was standing in there, they would be dead. All these kids are lucky to be alive,” Cejudo said. “If it was a couple hours earlier, someone would be seriously injured.”
Driver Charged With DUI
As you might imagine, the driver in this incident has since been charged with driving under the influence and assault. He is just 22-years-old.
The crash is still under investigation.
We’ve seen these kinds of heroics out of UFC fighters before.
UFC legend Mark Coleman was critically injured and hospitalized after bravely rescuing his parents from a devastating house fire in Ohio last year. Despite successfully carrying his parents to safety, he collapsed from smoke inhalation while attempting to save his dog Hammer, who tragically did not survive. Coleman recovered from his injuries.
For fans of Henry Cejudo, these real-life heroics add another layer to his legacy beyond the UFC ring, where he last fought Song Yadong in a controversial technical decision loss. Yadong poked Cejudo’s eye, rendering him unable to continue.
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