A 25-year-old woman from Costa Rica is earning praise after a viral video showed her bravely tackling a thief at a restaurant. Sol Vargas, 25, acted instantly when a man tried to snatch her bag while she was paying for breakfast in San Isidro de El General.
The footage shows the man sneaking up from behind and grabbing her bag. But Vargas didn’t let him escape. Using her jiu-jitsu skills, she threw him to the ground and held him down until restaurant staff called the police. “This guy grabs my bag, and I think, ‘he’s not taking it’,” Vargas told local media. “I grabbed him, threw him down, and, honestly, yes, I hit him, made him bleed and everything,” she said, according to LowKick MMA.
The report added that onlookers said Vargas used what looked like a triangle choke, a well-known Brazilian jiu-jitsu move, to keep the thief pinned. Though he tried to break free, she held her ground.
The video quickly went viral, with many praising Vargas. “Just let her handle it, the guy in the red shirt is useless,” one user joked. Another commented, “That’s amazing—quick thinking and real skill in action.” A third added, “Haha, the thief is pathetic and she’s an absolute beast.”
The report said the thief suffered facial injuries and was taken into police custody soon after. Vargas revealed she had nearly 100,000 Costa Rican colones (over ₹17,000) in her bag. “I work hard, and I’m not letting anyone take my things so easily,” she said.
Restaurant owner Francisco Bermúdez, who saw the incident unfold, told LowKick MMA: “I was speechless. It shocked me just as much as everyone who’s watched the video.”
Interestingly, the report mentioned that Vargas has no formal training in martial arts or jiu-jitsu. After seeing the clip, her mother even noticed that some of her moves looked like classic Brazilian jiu-jitsu holds, including a triangle choke, an armbar, and a full mount.
A woman in Costa Rica uses Jiu-jitsu to subdue an intruder.pic.twitter.com/icIFIB0yEt
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 8, 2025
“My mum says it was some kind of jiu jitsu hold or Brazilian technique or whatever. But like I told her, I don’t know anything about that. It just came out of me,” Vargas said.
Vargas shared that this wasn’t the first time she had to protect herself. Just two months earlier, she stood up to a man who harassed her after work, though she never reported it to the police.
“Now that I know I had the initiative to do these things, I would like to practice some martial art or self-defense. Because you never know when something like this could happen,” she said.