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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Predators beware: 11 women were trained this Sunday in some serious self-defence tactics at the Multiplex.

Darrel Ouelette and Faron Sinnicks, along with their mixed martial arts students JC Ouelette-Landry and Mike Hungle, taught the women - along with Patrick Wilson, who was there with his girlfriend - several ways to protect themselves.

Sara Aloimonos, in the choke hold, is helping her fellow student Bree Denning learn how to put someone in a "rear naked choke." - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

Ouelette taught them some tricks to win the battle on their feet, while Sinnicks taught them the highly-revered style of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for when that battle falls to the ground.

"It goes back to what the Gracies always said - 90 per cent of fights end up on the ground," said Sinnicks, speaking of the Gracie family who developed Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

"If you're back is on the ground, you are in danger. I'm going to show you some stuff that will allow you either to choke out your attacker until he's unconscious and you can run away - or to get you up on your feet so you can fight him standing," said Sinnicks.

Sinnicks taught them how to push off an attacker, how to choke an attacker with his own t-shirt and several moves even Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters use to make each other tap out.

"If you've got an attacker that's on drugs, and you really can't stop them, they're just too violent - I've seen guys break their hands and keep punching because of the drugs they were on - a good choke will stop them, because when you cut off blood to the brain, it reboots the brain. So when that brain kicks back in again, it's not enraged anymore," said Sinnicks.

"Have you ever been knocked out before? You wake up and for five minutes you're in a very happy place. For a few minutes you're thinking, you know, 'them flowers are nice.'"

After the ground training, Ouelette laid out a selection of everyday objects - a book, a belt, a set of keys, a pen, a DVD case, a magazine, a credit card and a hat - and systematically taught the class how every object could be used as a weapon, not only to hurt an opponent but as well a weapon that could disarm an opponent if he or she has a knife.

Ouelette's credo throughout the demonstration was "be creative."

After the class, the instructors asked for feedback from the group. The women's responses were overwhelmingly positive.

"I feel so much more confident now. I feel that I could protect myself if I had to," said Kelley Weatherby.

Sara Aloimonos said "I loved that you had these three guys here for us to beat up on, because I think we were afraid to use force on each other."

The instructors said they might consider putting on a class a few times a month, but it would depend on whether or not they could find a place to rent that's affordable.

For now, Ouelette and Sinnicks are training their own group of young fighters in mixed martial arts to go down south and compete in cage matches.

One fighter, Chad Bruce, already has a few wins under his belt and is heading back North this week after a match to resume his training.