BJJ Practitioner Chokes Out Tourist in Bali

A viral video from Uluwatu, Bali is making the rounds, and for once the jiu-jitsu community can watch a street choke without cringing at the technique.

Around 12:30 a.m. on March 30, shortly after Uluwatu Fight Night 14 wrapped at Hatch bar, a drunk Russian tourist was causing problems in the street. According to multiple witness accounts and Sando's own statement, the man was stumbling into traffic, slapping strangers, and groping women. Then he made the mistake of touching one of Belda Sando's companions.

Sando — a Balinese fighter, Pencak Silat practitioner, gym owner, and the man behind the Bali Top Fighter platform — did not throw a single punch. He walked over, took the guy's back, and applied a rear naked choke. Textbook. No ground and pound, no soccer kicks, no unnecessary escalation. Just controlled pressure until the lights went out.

The tourist came to moments later. His response: "I got it."

You did not, in fact, got it. That's the whole reason you're on the ground.

Here's where the story gets interesting. Sando, the guy who just executed a clean choke to protect women from being groped in public, apologized. "What I did may not have been right, and for that I apologize," he said in a public statement. "I'm human — sometimes emotions take over. But I didn't start it. He crossed the line first."

Let that sit. A man harasses women, slaps strangers, walks into traffic, and the guy who stopped him is the one apologizing.

Sando isn't some random bro who watched a YouTube tutorial. He founded ZANDO Fight Camp, a Muay Thai and Pencak Silat gym in Bali. He created Bali Top Fighter as a free platform for fighters who can't afford to train at the big international gyms. He teaches underprivileged kids aged 14 to 25 for free. He organizes Uluwatu Fight Night, which was on its 14th edition when this happened. The man is literally building martial arts infrastructure for his community, and the first headline most people will ever read about him is "fighter apologizes for choking tourist."

The timing also matters. Bali's provincial government formalized tourist conduct rules in March 2025, requiring visitors to respect local customs. The locals' patience with drunk foreigners treating their island like a theme park has been wearing thin for years. Sando's RNC landed in the middle of that larger conversation — which is probably why his apology was as much diplomatic as it was personal.

The video has since been covered by outlets from Singapore to Indonesia to the BJJ media, with most framing it as a case study in proportional response. No strikes. No permanent damage. Just sleep.

Every jiu-jitsu gym in the world tells white belts the art was designed for self-defense. Then they spend the next ten years pulling guard. Sando actually used it the way the brochure promised, and somehow he's the one who felt the need to say sorry.

Sources

• BJJEE: Fighter Chokes Out Disruptive Tourist In Bali With An RNC
• BJJ World: Belda Sando Bali Incident — Fighter Apologizes After Viral Tourist Choke
• Honeycombers Bali: Belda Sando Local Legend Profile
• Mothership.sg: Bali Local Chokes Tourist Unconscious

This post was generated by AI. Sources are linked above. Follow @bjj-problems on YouTube for the weekly video digest.