<! mediaid=3886336 Frank Franklin II, AP: img hspace="4" border="1" align="right" vspace="4" alt="Dana White meets with Joe Lozito." src="" />Joe Lozito was just another guy heading to work on the New York City subways last Saturday morning when he was suddenly faced with a life-or-death situation.
Lozito was riding the uptown No. 3 train when knife-wielding Maksim Gelman boarded his car before approaching Lozito and uttering the words "You are going to die." Gelman had already allegedly killed four people and injured five others, but Lozito's ensuing actions helped make sure the death toll would rise no higher. Lozito used a takedown he says he learned while watching many hours of mixed martial arts to put Gelman on his back. Gelman stabbed Lozito multiple times, but Lozito was able to restrain him long enough for police to jump in and arrest the madman.
"I wouldn't win any style points for taking him down, but it did the job," Lozito told the New York Daily News.
Yet it was a takedown that would have made Georges St. Pierre proud.
On Monday, UFC president Dana White visited with Lozito, who suffered gashes on the back of his head, behind his right ear and on his left arm, and cuts under his eye and to his thumb. White invited Lozito and his wife to be his special guests at the upcoming UFC 128 in Newark, New Jersey.
"You're a hero," White said, in the meeting captured by Fox.
"I don't think I'm a hero," Lozito said.
"I know, you don't think you're a hero. You're a humble guy," White said.
According to the Daily News, Gelman has racked up 10 arrests since 2003.
His rampage was allegedly sparked by an obsession with 20-year-old Yelena Bulchenko. Police say he killed both her and her mother Anna. He is also accused of stabbing his stepfather to death and mowing down a 62-year-old pedestrian while in his car.
Lozito was riding the uptown No. 3 train when knife-wielding Maksim Gelman boarded his car before approaching Lozito and uttering the words "You are going to die." Gelman had already allegedly killed four people and injured five others, but Lozito's ensuing actions helped make sure the death toll would rise no higher. Lozito used a takedown he says he learned while watching many hours of mixed martial arts to put Gelman on his back. Gelman stabbed Lozito multiple times, but Lozito was able to restrain him long enough for police to jump in and arrest the madman.
"I wouldn't win any style points for taking him down, but it did the job," Lozito told the New York Daily News.
Yet it was a takedown that would have made Georges St. Pierre proud.
On Monday, UFC president Dana White visited with Lozito, who suffered gashes on the back of his head, behind his right ear and on his left arm, and cuts under his eye and to his thumb. White invited Lozito and his wife to be his special guests at the upcoming UFC 128 in Newark, New Jersey.
"You're a hero," White said, in the meeting captured by Fox.
"I don't think I'm a hero," Lozito said.
"I know, you don't think you're a hero. You're a humble guy," White said.
According to the Daily News, Gelman has racked up 10 arrests since 2003.
His rampage was allegedly sparked by an obsession with 20-year-old Yelena Bulchenko. Police say he killed both her and her mother Anna. He is also accused of stabbing his stepfather to death and mowing down a 62-year-old pedestrian while in his car.
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