When 50-year-old Omar Marrero lunged menacingly at the driver of a car parked in a Miami parking lot wielding a large knife, he had no idea he was dealing with a former MMA fighter.

Last Wednesday around 4am, former MMA fighter Javier Baez was inside his car parked in a parking lot after a Halloween outing. Suddenly, 50-year-old Omar Marrero appeared at his car window and allegedly knocked on Baez’s window. Subsequently attempted to enter the vehicle and attacked the former MMA fighter with the knife he was holding, according to Miami-based Local News 10.

“The guy was out there yelling on the phone, literally fighting with some woman”Baez told Miami’s CBS affiliate. “He knocked on my window. I told him to leave me alone and then he attacked me with a knife. I called the police. I just hoped the window wouldn’t break. That’s all I cared about,” Baez said.

When Marrero tried to attack Baez, the former fighter took matters into his own hands. With precise movements as he would do in the ring, he immobilized the 50-year-old.

“When you train so many times, it just becomes a reflex”, Baez said, according to Local News 10. “When it came up I went on instinct. I couldn’t do much, I just reacted,” Baez continued.

Although his last fight was in 2018 and his last win was in 2016, Baez said he has the right mindset when facing the attacker.

“I stayed calm, I kept my balance, I kept my cool”Baez told CBS 4.

After immobilizing Marrero with a “choke” hold, Baez was able to hold the alleged assailant to the ground with his knee and call the police, who eventually arrested the suspect.