A huge black bear attacked a climber on Mount Futago in Japan. The animal, protecting its cub, tried to bite the man, but he bravely stood up to it and chased it away.

In early October, a mountaineer in Japan unwittingly got caught between a mother bear and her cub on a dangerous cliff face, prompting the predator, which was protecting its cub, to attack him. The hiker was climbing up the cliffs of Mount Futago in southern Japan when the black bear suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The man captured the incident with a GoPro camera mounted to his helmet.

The climber said that he owes his survival to the fact that he’s trained in karate and mixed martial arts.

In the video, you can hear the climber screaming desperately and then see him repeatedly striking the animal on the head with his fist and finally kicking it a few meters lower.

The bear climbed back several times and attempted further attacks, before giving up soon after. Then, it ran off with its cub in tow and disappeared into the bushes, while the climber made it to the summit unharmed. The man admitted afterwards that he was the one intruding into the bear’s habitat, but in that situation he could do nothing but instinctively focus on protecting his life.