Shaquille O’Neal loves combat sports and makes sure he is ringside at major UFC and Bare Knuckle Fighting events. At UFC 314 on Saturday, Shaq was not just enjoying the fights, but he almost got into one himself.
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O’Neal’s ‘beef’ with streamer Adin Ross flared up octagon-side during the event headlined by Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes. And Shaq, it seems, threatened to beat up Ross, or so was the insinuation in the post by the streamer.
Ross and Shaq have butted heads before. So, this was history repeating itself in a way. The UFC 314 altercation, though, is rooted in another incident a couple of weeks back at DAZN’s Fight Night 28. The two were seated next to one another at the event. And things escalated, instigated by Ross.
The streamer, a man significantly more diminutive in physical stature compared to the ‘Big Aristotle’, decided to smack candy out of the NBA legend’s hands. A few death stares later, it had become apparent that Shaq wasn’t all too pleased.
Shaq is a big fan of candy (has his own Shaq-A-Licious Gummies). So, the big fella wouldn’t have let Ross go off the hook that easily. Two weeks on, UFC 314 became the day of reckoning of sorts.
Shaq was thinking about knocking Adin Ross out after he smacked candy out of his hand pic.twitter.com/UBH5mIBEV6
— ryan (@scubaryan_) March 28, 2025
UFC’s main events bring out the heavy hitters of the sport. Perhaps inspired by the fiery exchanges in the bouts, Shaq was ready for action. In a clip that he re-posted to his IG story, he can be seen giving Ross a menacing look while walking away from him.
Ross initially put it on his story and captioned it, “Shaq do it, I can’t wait to sue.” His story implies O’Neal threatened violence against him.
However, this could also be a marketing gimmick from Shaq to promote his gummies brand.
Shaq just threatened to beat up Adin Ross at UFC 314 after Adin hit his leg and spilled his candy a few weeks ago pic.twitter.com/aH6mQbBwMy
— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) April 13, 2025
It is possible that Shaq might have had a word with Ross to stage a feud of sorts to gain some attention. Shaq is great with PR stunts, for sure.
Fans online were indeed a confused lot. O’Neal’s anger was, after all, disproportionate to the incident.
“LMAO Shaq still salty over some spilled Skittles?? Bro said see you in the octagon lil man’ like it’s WWE,” wrote one fan. Another one used Gen-Z lingo and accused Shaq of ‘aura farming’.
Ross is not the only person that Shaq has threatened to beat up, though on almost all the occasions it was in jest. On the episode of Inside the NBA on April 1, Jake Paul and Logan Paul were special guests. Shaq referred to a bet he lost when Mike Tyson lost to Jake.
“Don’t come to my show with your little arms all out,” said Shaq. Jake replied: “You better back up, I know karate. See what I do to 50-year-olds.”
Shaq, of course, is unafraid of taking on big men and fighters or speaking his mind. But it should be noted that O’Neal and Ross are media personalities. And this could all be a ploy to drum up drama.
Or else, why would Shaq voluntarily re-post Adin’s IG story? If he were truly perturbed, he wouldn’t have. The likely scenario here is that this is all manufactured drama between the two. They may not be beefing at all and could actually be on good terms.
