It’s hard to get beat by an inanimate, frozen foe, but then again it’s also hard to be this cute.

As feline fans will happily inform you, cats are natural hunters. They’re not “playing” with their prey, but tiring it out before delivering the finishing blow, and when they see how few kills you, its milquetoast human owner, racks up, it might have to start bringing home dead mice for you to use as practice dummies, in hope that someday you’ll finally learn to hunt for yourself.

But kitties’ combat capabilities aren’t always so formidable. Consider, for example, Sante, the pet cat of Japanese Twitter user @tikuwamaru0728. Following Japan’s heavy snowfall earlier this week, @tikuwamaru0728 prepared what should have been an easy adversary for Sante to beat: an undersized snowman.

The contest had an unexpected outcome, however.

Sante comes out swinging, alternating between repeated strikes with his right and left paws. But like a true martial arts master, the snowman barely moves, withstanding the initial onslaught while never losing its icy composure.

Puzzled by the ineffectiveness of his punches, Sante stops to reconsider his strategy, and also lick the cold moisture off his paws. Apparently unable to think of any other plan of attack, he goes back to paw swipes, startling himself when he catches a small chunk of ice and sends it flying.

After another pause to lick his digits, it’s time for the third and final round of the bout. This time, Sante lands a few solid overhead thwacks, but the angle of impact fails to topple the snowman, or even make it noticeably wobble.

Realizing his opponent isn’t going down, Sante takes the only option left…retreat. After 30-some-odd seconds of furious/funny flailing, Sante walks off, ceding this territory to its new lord, the snowman.

In Sante’s defense, he’s only nine months old, so he might become a better fighter as he gets older.

Then again, looking at some other snapshots from @tikuwamaru0728, especially ones where Sante is playing nicely with his hedgehog housemate or posing solo for the camera, it looks like he might just be more interested in getting along with everybody or making them laugh than honing his hand-to-hand combat skills.

And as cute as Sante is, we’re sure @tikuwamaru0728 is happy to keep him safe from any snowmen he can’t fend off on his own.

Source: Twitter/@tikuwamaru0728 via IT Media