Just a few days out from Christmas, UFC featherweight Lando Vannata had his Die Hard moment.
‘Groovy’ is a fan-favorite octagon veteran, having been in the promotion for nearly seven years. During his time in the promotion, he’s shared the UFC cage with incredible names, including Tony Ferguson, Bobby Green, Marc Diakiese, and more.
The Jackson’s MMA product has been out of action since a submission loss to Charles Jourdain in April. While the Albuquerque native was likely looking forward to returning in 2023, Vannata instead jumped into action earlier this week.
In a thread on Twitter, Lando Vannata discussed his role in stopping a home invasion. According to the featherweight contender, he was asleep when he saw a man standing in his driveway through a home camera. The unidentified individual then attempted to break into Vannata’s neighbor’s home.
Luckily, the striker intervened and helped chase the man away. However, the suspect then reportedly broke into another home, and later stole a bike. While Vannata filed a police report, he’s not sure if the man was ever arrested.
“Albuquerque is wild. Stay strapped,” Vannata wrote on Twitter. “Last night around 12:30 I was laying on the couch and a ring alert went off on my phone, I long press the notification and see a guy standing in my driveway dressed in an oversized grey coat and beat up old jeans. I open the live video. He’s walking across the street and climbing over my neighbors backyard wall. I jump into action. I run up to my front door, still observing the video as the character struggles to climb, grab my car keys and hit the lock button a few times hoping it’s enough to scare him.”
He continued, “He pauses, straddling the cinder blocks, looks at my car and then continues quickly over the wall, into the yard and up the staircase that leads to her balcony door. It’s 20° outside and I’m barefoot, in sweatpants and a T on my front porch yelling, “HEY FUCKER, I KNOW YOURE UP THERE” I call my neighbor, immediately she answers, and I tell her the situation, “there’s a weird guy on your balcony right now and he’s probably trying to break into your house.” Thankfully, she’s at her mothers. One less thing to worry about.”
“There’s only one way up and one way down that balcony, and I haven’t seen him since he climbed up, he must be hiding behind the walls. My neighbor calls the cops. I’m more the self-sufficient type. I turn around, walk inside, lock the door behind me, I head upstairs. I grab my flashlight and just in case, my gun. Ready. But let’s assess the situation first. I step onto my balcony and shine the light across, looking for movement, nothing still. I yell out again “YOU BETTER GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE BITCH!” Then I see him.”
“Walking across the main road outside of our neighborhood in the middle of the cold night. “COME BACK HERE AGAIN AND IM GONNA FUCK YOU UP!” He starts walking back my way telling me to do it, pauses & continues leaving. At this point the cops are called, I’ll be up all night…I’m only a few sentences into telling them the story when the original officers walk back over and interject. This little cockroach, they tell me, had broken into a neighbors house through the back door. A house with a husband, wife and two kids.”
He concluded, “Thankfully they were able to physically push the worm back into the yard and lock him out. Then, he has the audacity to come check my car doors before attempting to break into the house across the street. He flees into a nearby shopping center where the police get a report. matching his description. The scumbag proceeded to beat up a man riding his bike before fleeing into the woods. I don’t know if the cops caught him when they went looking, but my my eyes will be peeled”
What do you make of this story? Are you excited about Lando Vannata’s next fight? Sound off in the comment section below PENN Nation!
