Jordan Williams explains how he stopped viral carjacking: ‘He’s lucky and I’m lucky with the way it played out’

Jordan Williams admits he made some mistakes that led to his car almost being stolen earlier this week.

The UFC welterweight posted a video on Wednesday of a man attempting to steal his vehicle outside of a gas station convenience store. Luckily, Williams was able to react quickly once he realized what was happening and thwarted off the attempted carjacker.

On top of that, Williams did it while rocking a yellow fanny pack.

“That’s where the strength and the confidence came from,” Williams jokingly told MMA Fighting on Friday.

Williams, who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 19, was going through a typical day when he realized that his blood sugar levels weren’t where they needed to be. On this day, he learned a valuable lesson.

“I was on my way to work and I stop at this convenience store a lot,” Williams said. “My blood sugar was low so I will sometimes run in the store with the car running because I was under the impression that the car won’t drive if the key isn’t within five feet of it. Well that’s wrong and I definitely didn’t look that up.

“The reason he couldn’t drive is because he had the parking break on and he couldn’t get it down, so I was, literally, seconds away from losing that car, and if he could figure out how to use the parking brake, he would have it. But that changes the impact of the story because of how much of an idiot I am for leaving it running.”

The 30-year-old was in the store when the suspect snuck around from the other side of the building, leisurely walked into his vehicle, and tried to throw it in reverse to drive away. While Williams was shopping for his items and trying to pay, he didn’t even notice what was going on.

“The guy was on drugs, he was high on something in order to have confidence in that plan, and B, he was running around the block [acting crazy] after,” Williams said.

“I didn’t see him when I was in the convenience store, I saw him just strolling out and I had my belongings in my hand. I was reaching to put my wallet back in my fanny pack and I saw this gentleman inside my car trying to pull back. We lock eyes as I ran to him and the look that this fool gave me was like, ‘I got your car and I’m driving away with your car,’ and he had no remorse. He had no fear.

“Once I got the door open, I threw my stuff on the front seat because I still needed the sugar, I landed a couple of right hands on him and after I landed my first right hand, he started screaming he’s sorry, he’s sorry and was trying to get out of the car,” Williams continued. “Then I threw some knees and he was saying he was sorry, but he’s still in my car so I felt like it was fair game.”

Williams got his car back and the suspect was able to get away, but it was even more fortunate the attempted carjacker couldn’t figure out how to offset the emergency brake because they were at a gas station.

“He got away but I was just lucky that the parking brake was on, because it prevented the theft and it prevented my car from rolling back into the gas pump,” Williams explained. “It was so lucky that this story played out the way that it did because there was a whole bunch of variables that could’ve been changed and it would’ve been a whole different story.

“Honestly, it was a little bit of a scare, but the best scenario played out. I don’t need the scenario to ever play out again, but I’m happy I still have my car.”

After his third appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series in September 2020, Williams was finally able to secure a UFC contract with a first-round TKO win over Gregory Rodrigues. Williams is still looking for his first octagon victory after dropping a unanimous decision to Nassourdine Imavov in his promotional debut at UFC Fight Island 4 before a first-round submission loss to Mickey Gall this past month at UFC Vegas 32.

Williams was happy to secure this victory for himself and his car, but after what he saw in the eyes of this particular attempted carjacker on Wednesday, “Bomaye” believes he’ll definitely try and strike again.

“I don’t mind [that he didn’t get arrested] on my behalf but I feel bad for the next person he tries to do something crazy to,” Williams said. “If [the cops] were called, the police would’ve came, he would’ve been gone [because] I don’t think they would’ve been able to catch the guy. But they’ll catch him on the next stupid thing he does because, this guy, he ain’t done with that act.

“He left his hat and his phone fell out in my car. His phone was unlocked, no contacts, no messages, I think it was a [Tracphone]. He had a couple of wifi networks, a couple of grocery stores, so he was probably a drug user who thought he could come up.”

In the end, Williams feels like the guy may have been humbled, but not completely. If he somehow makes another bad decision and gets caught, he hopes that he’ll be able to access some resources that can change his behavior.

“I would say, get this guy some help,” Williams said. “I got the car back. Get this guy some help, check his system. Get him some help, because if I see you, I’ll definitely implement my way of helping people by beating that ass up.

“He’s lucky and I’m lucky with the way that it played out.”