Watch Florida MMA fighter wrestle 10-foot alligator and WIN by sitting on its shoulders

A Florida MMA fighter wrestled a 10-foot alligator with his bare hands before emerging triumphant and pinning it down by sitting on its shoulders.

Amateur fighter Mike Dragich, 33, took on the killer reptile after it entered the parking lot near a Jacksonville elementary school.

Dragich battled with the alligator in front of a crowd of cheering spectators.

'I felt like Batman, for real, you know,' he told FOX 35 Orlando.

'We get there. I walked through the gate. And boom. There it was just ready to go right there in the parking lot, and we just had to get the job done,' he added.

Amateur fighter Mike Dragich (pictured), 33, took on the killer reptile after it entered the parking lot near a Jacksonville elementary school. Dragich battled with the alligator in front of a crowd of cheering spectators

In the video, the giant beast snaps at Dragich as he tries to grab it by the tail.

Dressed in a muscle shirt, he can then be seen trying to pin it down using a catch pole as they battle it out on the grass in front of screaming onlookers. 

The local veteran puts the loop at the end of the pole around the alligator's neck.

The animal can be seen rolling around in circles, desperate to shake off his opponent.

With the catch pole still around the alligator's neck, Dragich jumps onto the animal's shoulders and sits on it to hold it down, accompanied by several Jacksonville firefighters.

'A lot of fighters will understand that when you go to the cage, you're nervous but once that cage door closes, you gotta be focused and honestly that's what I remembered from that night,' Dragich said.

In the video, with the catch pole still around the alligator's neck, Dragich jumps onto the animal's shoulders sits on it to hold it down, accompanied by several Jacksonville firefighters 

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimates that the state holds around 1.3m alligators of every size across its 67 counties, which offer around 6.7m acres of suitable wetland habitats for the animals.

The commission has kept a record of 'unprovoked bite incidents' since 1948 and reports that, from then until November 2021, there were only 442. Only 26 of those resulted in human deaths.

Floridians can report 'nuisance' alligators of more than four feet in length that may pose a threat to people, pets or property so that a licensed trapper can come out to remove them, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The reptiles that are removed are then euthanized so that they do not return to the locations where they were captured or cause disruptions to existing alligator social structures in other areas, the Commission states.

In February, an 85-year-old woman was mauled to death by a ten-foot alligator as she tried to rescue her dog from the reptile's clutches near a pond in Florida.

The pensioner, Gloria Serge, 85, had been walking her dog by the pond at the Spanish Lakes Fairways community in Fort Pierce when the 700lb alligator launched itself from the water and grabbed the pet.

The woman had tried to get the dog away from the alligator's jaws when the reptile attacked her, dragging her into the pond, an eyewitness told CBS News.

The victim's body was later recovered by officials. Serge's pup survived the attacked, but the gator was later captured and euthanized. 

Last month, a 23-year-old man lost his arm when he was attacked by a 10ft alligator after tripping into a pond outside a Florida bar.

Jordan Rivera barely remembers the attack when he 'ended up in the water' behind Banditos bar in Port Charlotte in the early hours of May 21 after going outside to relieve himself because the restroom line was too long.

Patrons ran to his rescue after hearing him screaming for help during the attack. They pulled him out of the water and put a makeshift tourniquet on his severed right arm.