Photo: CTV News

A truck thief in Kamloops picked the wrong vehicle to steal on Monday.

Chad Freeman was awoken by his daughter that day, alarming him his truck was being stolen.

But before Freeman was able to do anything, the truck drove off taking valuable tools with it, CTV News reports.

Freeman is a local jiu-jitsu instructor, previously fighting in the Mixed Martial Arts league Bellator with an 8-6 record.

So when a friend told him he found his truck five hours later, Freeman did not hesitate and rushed to confront the thief.

"I ran up to him, he was already sitting on the ground, and I put my knee on his stomach and pinned him down," he told CTV News Vancouver.

The man reached for his pocket, so the martial artist put the thief in a choke hold.

“I said 'if you move, I'll put you to sleep," Freeman said, adding his warnings went unheeded and he ended up choking the crook out.

RCMP arrived and arrested the man, finding knives and drug paraphernalia, according to Freeman.

The thief had been using Freeman’s truck to steal car batteries and had amassed 14 in the truck — doing about $1,500 worth of damage to the interior of the vehicle in the process.

Kamloops RCMP say the suspect, who has not been named, will face charges. But the police say even MMA fighters should avoid trying to detain bad guys.

"It doesn’t matter your fitness level or your level of skill, if somebody has a weapon then it can be very dangerous," Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said.

with files from CTV Vancouver