Does anyone else feel like Florida is some sort of lawless fever dream? It seems like there isn’t a day that goes by without some crazy story happening in the Sunshine State. From the Florida Man Games to the wildly egregious crimes, you might ask yourself, “What else could happen?” Well one Florida Man decided to say, “Hold my iced tea,” and gave us another wild tale.
MMA fighter Mike Dragich wrangled an 8-foot alligator with his bare hands while he was barefoot near a hockey game in Jacksonville. And the best part is that it was caught on camera and uploaded to Dragich’s Instagram account. The video shows Dragich, with no tools whatsoever, capture the alligator in the middle of the road.
What’s even more amazing is that this isn’t the first time Dragich went viral over an alligator catch. Back in June 2023, he captured an alligator in the parking lot of a Jacksonville elementary school. When comparing the two incidents, Dragich claims the recent capture is his wildest one yet.
“He was running towards the cops, and a crowd of people, and everybody was screaming,” Dragich described in an interview. While speaking with a local news station, Dragich explained that he was attending a hockey game five minutes away from the alligator. In addition to being an MMA fighter, Dragich is also a licensed alligator trapper. He was dispatched to capture the alligator by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FCW). This came after the FCW was alerted to the situation by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
“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. We have to give props to this Florida Man. The video of his capture is impressive, and you can see it for yourself down below.
