South Florida motorists beware: picking a fight with the wrong cop could land you on the pavement faster than you can say ‘octagon.’
Body camera footage that surfaced on social media this weekend shows Coral Springs police officer Marlon ‘Magic’ Moraes — a retired Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight — dealing with a belligerent driver who apparently had no idea he was challenging a former professional fighter.
The incident occurred late one evening in late March, when officers pulled over a motorist who quickly became combative. In the unedited video, the man can be heard cursing at a female officer, telling her to ‘Shut the fuck up’ and insisting he was not driving.
When Moraes stepped in to defend his partner, the motorist turned his attention to the 38-year-old officer, taunting him with ‘Don’t be like that. Don’t be a bitch.’ He then stepped forward as if to get in Moraes’s face.
Moraes, who stands five-foot-six and weighs 145 pounds, backed away, attempting to de-escalate the situation. But the motorist was undeterred.
A Bad Choice of Opponent
After learning his car would be towed, the man directed more insults at another male officer, calling him ‘a bitch.’ He then looked at Moraes and issued a challenge: ‘You ain’t that big, bro. I can fuck you up.’
What the motorist didn’t know was that Moraes had spent years fighting professionally at that exact size — competing in scores of bouts, many of them televised, before joining the UFC in 2017. The featherweight division is known for producing some of the most explosive athletes in mixed martial arts, and Moraes was among them.
The man was about to learn the old cliché: looks can be deceiving.
Moraes warned him, ‘You’re one step away from making it worse for you.’ But the combative motorist stepped forward anyway.
That’s when the former UFC fighter executed a lightning-fast hip toss, instantly flooring the man onto the pavement. The takedown happened in the blink of an eye. The motorist never laid a hand on him.
From Octagon to Badge
Moraes, a native of Brazil, built a decorated fighting career before transitioning to law enforcement. He held multiple titles over the years and became a fighter in the premier UFC league in 2017. His fighting style — a blend of explosive takedowns and aggressive striking — earned him a reputation as one of the most exciting featherweights of his era.
After retiring from MMA, Moraes joined Florida’s Davie Police Department, near Fort Lauderdale, in June 2024. He later moved to the Coral Springs Police Department, just east of the Everglades, later that year.
The video, which was posted to social media this weekend, quickly drew attention for the dramatic — and almost comical — mismatch between the loudmouth motorist and the seasoned fighter turned police officer.
It has not been reported what happened to the driver or what charges he faced following the incident.
Breitbart News contributor Lowell Cauffiel, author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other books, filed this report.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2026/09/06/watch-belligerent-motorist-tries-to-tangle-with-florida-cop-former-ufc-fighter/