A police takedown of a drunk and belligerent biker in the Auckland suburb of Kingsland went viral this week. Pro fighter Shane Young breaks down the action ahead of his own fight this evening in Auckland.

Though its logo might look like the sticker on a New Era snapback, the Portland Public House is a Kingsland insitution. Long has it looked over the denizens who creep along the strip. It’s seen the gentrification, the modernisation and the transformation of the suburb from a borderline hellhole into a place of good coffee and beer served in jars. This week, it saw something else, something more familiar – a good old police takedown.

The Kingsland tackle has gone viral, with almost a million views on Facebook alone. The circumstance, the anticipation, the execution. It’s a textbook display of police SOP – and an illuminating sequence for the martial arts fan. We brought in pro fighter Shane Young, who fights tonight at the NZ vs China card in Auckland, to breakdown the tackle, and pontificate on its efficiency in a competitive fight.

Shane Young: He’s a big boy, good on the cop to attempt to get him and the bike too. It’s also pretty impressive to see a takedown from a sitting position – makes it particularly hard to generate that power. Dude must do crossfit or something, heaps of box jumps.

His placement is very good, he gets the centre of the body, bundles him over and maintains control. He does very well not to get crushed by the bike as well – he took him clean off.

Little hip switch once they hit the ground, the cop comes around the side, and he maintains side-control. This is a really effective position to control the opponent. The dude didn’t even know what hit him. ‘What are these cops up to?’ Bam, gone boy.

It looks like the dude on the bike is actually about to give up his back, I think the cop was going to take the back, get his hooks in, maybe look to sink in a choke. It looked pretty gentle really, a lot of control there. He could have pulled his taser out and started zapping him.

Hopefully the bike’s alright, I don’t know about that, but it looks like minimal damage was taken by both parties. I think the cop must be a rugby player – I know a lot of rugby teams utilise wrestling coaches now, teaching guys to tackle while controlling the ball. I think that might be where he got his technique.

That was a solid rugby tackle, transitioned to a wrestling takedown once he was on the deck. When he came around to the side control, that was a bit of jiu jitsu. It was a solid effort.

If my opponent brings a motorbike into the ring then I’ll do something very similar. Otherwise it’s gonna be a knockout.