This time, the octagon was in his neighbor’s yard.
UFC star Henry Cejudo helped police detain a fleeing suspected drunk driver who plowed into his neighbor’s home in Phoenix last week — with the badass champ “smacking him around a little bit” while sporting silky gold pajamas.
The former champion MMA fighter and Olympic gold medalist said he was working from home when he heard what sounded like an explosion down the street around 8:30 Friday night.
“Boom! I knew he had hit something or somebody,” he recalled to Fox 10 Phoenix. “I felt like it was right next to us, and it was probably about four or five houses down to the point where I was actually able to see the car, see it just run through the neighborhood like you wouldn’t believ
He immediately rushed over to his 65-year-old neighbor’s house and stopped Cota from running away.
“I said, ‘Hey man, you guys aren’t going nowhere,’ and then the owner of this house, Wayne, ends up getting in front and tries to stop him, and the dude ends up punching him,” Cejudo told the outlet.
“Now, not only did he just, you know, run into his house with his car, but then he decides to assault him, and once I saw that I knew I had to step in,” he said.
Cota was no match for the former flyweight and belterweight champ, who chased him down and tackled him.
“I grabbed him, controlled him pretty quickly, put both of his hands behind his back and smacked him around a little bit,” Cejudo revealed.
Some other neighbors took the opportunity to get a couple shots in on Cota, too, he added.
Cota still tried to flee, but finally gave himself up after another neighbor pointed a gun at him as they waited for Phoenix Police to arrive, according to MMA reporter Dylan Rush, who was filming a morning routine video with Cejudo at the time.
Video posted on Instagram by Rush shows the gray-haired neighbor whose house was hit with blood on his face speaking with police after the ordeal.
Behind him, the whole front of Cota’s vehicle is inside a first-floor room.
Just hours before the crash, the quiet neighborhood had hosted a block party on the street that had dozens of children running around.
“Luckily, it was at 6:30, not 8:30, because if it was at the time — I was thinking — somebody was just gonna not be good. I’m actually surprised now that after everything that happened that nobody died,” Cejudo said.
Cota was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and assault.
CREDIT: NY Post Patrick Reilly
