Was at a small bar in my hometown with some friends and my girl..

When two of the guys went up to get drinks, lady from the table next to us came over and asked if we were using our chairs. I said yes and she took them anyways. Tried to call her out on it, someone in her group responded by saying there were chairs all over the place. I said then you could have taken those. All hell breaks loose.

Turns out the group was all cops, a couple of which were straight up silverbacks, heads like pitbulls. I realized this girl probably intended to do this when she came over, to stir them up. The women were feeding off it. I made some comment like, "I'm just trying to be an adult here" and guys response was "we can go be adults outside", while his cop friends are all smirking saying just turn around guy.

I've done jiu jitsu, and was infantry, so ive got a decent idea of what i can take... and this certainly wasn't going to end well for me. let alone i'd have gotten my ass beat before being sent to jail while they continue drinking. blue line.

i couldnt figure out how to save face at all. i definitely felt punked, and my girl definitely noticed. i've been reading trp for a while so i get the dynamics involved, just not sure what i could have done differently. meanwhile this group behind us is laughing their asses off.

how could i have handled this situation? it definitely has me feeling like i need to up my gym time, go back to jiu jitsu. seems like i could have done something differently in the moment too. thoughts?