Jonathan Martin says he knocked out would-be shoplifter, tweets photo

Jonathan Martin may be best known as the victim of the Miami Dolphins bullying scandal, but he's apparently a pretty tough guy.

And not just because he's an offensive lineman in the NFL. Check out his tweet from Thursday afternoon:

And just in case you were wondering exactly what he meant by "took a dude out," Martin tweeted out this visual a few hours later:

Martin told Yahoo! Sports that he and a former college teammate were shopping at the Beverly Center on Thursday afternoon when he saw two men trying to shoplift a purse from the Versace Collection store a few yards away from him.

While the first shoplifter got away, Martin said, the 49ers tackle was able to help the security guard subdue the other would-be robber by punching him "five to eight times," eventually knocking him to the floor.

“I didn't even think,” Martin said. “I just reacted. It wasn't till later when [my friend] said, 'He could have had a gun.' I didn't even think about it. I just wanted to help.”

He added: “It took maybe 30 seconds. It all happened so fast you don't really think about it. You just sort of react.”

Interestingly, the security guard declined to comment to Yahoo! on Thursday night.

Nonetheless, folks probably will think twice about bullying Martin again.

But cyberbullying? Maybe not ...

Twitter: @chewkiii