MMA Trainer Fends Off Attempted Home Intruder

In other news of criminals who learn the hard way not to mess with people trained in martial arts or combat sports, the Star Exponent of Northern Virginia is reporting that a would-be home intruder in Lake of the Woods, VA, recently picked the wrong house to break into.

At around 1:30 AM on Wednesday morning, the home of MMA trainer, Eric Zamora, was targeted by a suspect who attempted to enter the home through a back door off the deck. Zamora says he was watching TV with his wife, Jenny, sleeping near him when he heard footsteps on the deck. He initially assumed it was an animal but when he looked up at the door, he saw the suspect looking in at them. The suspect then began to yell and curse and demand that they let him in the house. At this point, Zamora called Lake of the Woods security, handed the phone to his wife and set about keeping the intruder out of the house.

"I kept thinking that I don’t know what this guy wants, but I have to keep him out of the house but keep him here until the cops come because I don’t want him coming back," Zamora said.

Zamora says the suspect tried to yank open the back door but when that was unsuccessful, he ran around the house to try the front door instead. This is when things got really bad for him.

Zamora decided to step outside his home to confront the suspect, who he says was "angry and smelling of alcohol." Zamora asked the man to leave at which point the man uttered a threat: "If you don’t move and let me in the house I’m going to knock you the F*** out". Oops. The suspect then took a step toward Zamora and Zamora punched him, knocking him to the ground. Zamora then got to full mount and held the suspect down until the police arrived.

Zamora, who has a 22-month-old daughter and a 3-month-old daughter, stated that he did call the security company twice before going outside to confront the man but he ultimately wanted to make sure the man was caught.

"Most people probably say you shouldn’t go outside, but my thing was that if nobody stops him he could easily come back," said Zamora.

"There was no reaction, it was just instinctive," Zamora said. "My thought was, ‘you’re not getting through me because I have females in the house.’ If I had to die defending my family then so be it."

The police and security company both commended Zamora for his actions and said he did the right thing in defending his home and family.

The article provided the following background on Zamora and his training:

Zamora opened Zamora Boxing Gym on Montanus Drive in 2007 after a stint as a trainer at Gold’s Gym in Culpeper. According to its website, the gym offers boxing, Brazilian Jujitsu, fitness classes and a place to train for fighters competing in mixed martial arts, boxing and kickboxing.

The 30-year-old has been one of the gym’s main instructors since it opened. He also competed as an amateur boxer before moving to Culpeper and has trained jujitsu and MMA for about a year.

Zamora has also been the driving force behind Warrior Fighting Championship, a local mixed martial arts promotion that has held several shows in Culpeper since 2009.

Please note that I couldn't find any related photos so I chose a photo of the greatest home intrusion defender of them all, Antoine Dodson.