WHOA! Barefoot Florida man uses bare hands to tackle 8-foot alligator

The licensed alligator trapper and MMA fighter was also barefoot when he captured the large reptile.

A man used his bare hands to wrangle an 8-foot alligator that was causing a disturbance along a busy road in Jacksonville, Florida, Sunday, and the wild catch was caught on camera.

Mike Dragich, a licensed Florida alligator trapper, was at his kids' hockey game when he received an emergency nuisance alligator call from authorities.

Dragich didn't have his trapping equipment with him at the game but responded and caught the alligator anyway.

Using his bare hands, Dragich pinned the giant alligator down and was able to capture it without any equipment. Dragich was even barefoot when he did it.

"He was running towards the cops, and a crowd of people, and everybody was screaming," Dragich told FOX35 Orlando about the alligator encounter.

The MMA fighter and veteran told FOX35 Orlando the whole thing took about 27 minutes total, and he returned to the hockey game just in time for the third period.

"It was only five minutes from the game, so I literally left the game, caught the alligator, and then went back to the game," Dragich said. 

Known as @bluecollar_brawler on social media, Dragich went viral last year when he removed an aggressive 10-foot alligator from a parking lot near an elementary school in June.

The state of Florida works with licensed alligator trappers, like Dragich, to remove nuisance alligators that threaten people, pets, or property. When one is reported to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), they dispatch a contracted licensed professional to remove the reptile.

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