Video Of MMA Fighter Javier Baez Slamming A Knife-Wielding Attacker To The Ground Before Choking Him Out Goes Viral

At 4:00 a.m. on November 1, Javier Baez, the retired mixed martial arts fighter, was filmed fighting a knife-wielding man, Omar Marrero, in an apartment complex parking lot in Cutler Bay, Florida.

This footage showed the former fighter standing by his car before a man ran toward him with a weapon.

He could be seen grasping the attacker by the throat before slamming him to the ground. The four-time professional winner then proceeded to lie on top of the attacker and disarmed him as well.

Since then, Baez has discussed the incident in interviews with local news outlets and confirmed that he was uninjured.

“Guy was out there screaming on the phone, literally was fighting for a while with some woman,” he told CBS Miami when describing the argument that took place before the recording. “He tapped on my door window. I told him to leave me alone, and then he came at me with a knife. I told him to leave me alone. I’m calling the cops. I hope he doesn’t break my window. That’s all I cared about.”

The ex-mixed martial arts fighter exited his car to de-escalate this situation and noticed the attacker grabbing his weapon.

“He got really mad,” he said. “He got a knife and came running at me. Well, the rest is on video.”

Baez even discussed how his mixed martial arts training assisted him in this particular situation.

“I stayed calm, kept my balance, kept my composure,” he said. “Didn’t bring him down and start beating on. Just took him down.”

He made similar comments during a Local News 10 report: “You train so many times that it becomes just a reflex. Once I started putting the choke in, he kind of just let it go because no one is worried about anything else but breathing when you’re losing air. I was able to hold him down with my knee and call the cops, and he woke up, cops came, and it was good, easy peasy!”

“Once it came to that, it’s all instincts,” Baez continued. “I couldn’t do much but just react. I’ve been training my whole life — black belt in jiu-jitsu, wrestled in college, I’ve got eight pro fights, MMA masters. I’ve got great training partners.”

This report said that the suspect, who was arrested by Miami-Dade police and charged with two felonies, was taken to the Cutler Bay Municipal District. There, he was interviewed and made a statement to the police.

The recording of Baez fighting Marrero has become a viral hit on social media, being viewed millions of times on X.

Terrance McKinney, the current Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight fighter, reposted the video of the fight on his X profile.

His post included a caption: “Whoa Javier Baez [was] in Miami [and] got attacked by some random [person] with a knife but [he] shows why wrestling is important to know.”