The story shocked me more than usual because I know my buddy is a pretty good martial artist. He is often dubbed as 'talented' by his colleagues and superiors. What's wrong your story? In theory, he would have wasted the thief in no time while he clearly had no weapon with him. According to him, he couldn't know how to handle it. He knew how he could subdue such assault but he just couldn't know what to do immediately. Long before there were machines to work out on and competitive sports to remain moving and before wars were being fought, man didn't think about conditioning as a means of keeping healthy. He simply knew if he didn't hunt, he wouldn't eat and when he didn't run, something would hunt him. They were tough times that focused simply on survival.