Shaquille O’Neal is a long-time fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, often joking about stepping into the octagon himself. Recently, we learned how the four-time NBA champion got his first taste of the sport. “Shaquille O’Neal being the giant MMA fan that he is, I can take credit for that,” veteran stuntman Tjay Thompson began.
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Along with working on several blockbuster films like ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Jurassic World’, the stuntman is also one of the pioneering figures for MMA in Hawaii. He was on media personality Todd Atkins’ talk show when he revealed his Shaq story.
“At the time, the Lakers would come over here during pre-season…It’s Kobe Bryant’s first year, 18-year-old Kobe Bryant. And Shaquille O’Neal, I’m told, wants to take his team to the fight – ‘Can I buy tickets from you?’ And I said, ‘No, I’ll comp you tickets.’ So front row, you’ll see Shaquille, Kobe.”
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This was UFC’s 12th ever event, SuperBrawl 2, which was held in Honolulu on October 11th, 1996 – one day after O’Neal made his exhibition debut for the Lakers at the University of Hawaii. Hilariously, SuperBrawl 2’s headliner, Vitor Belfort, almost caught an elbow from Big Diesel before the contest even began.
“The motherf***er grabbed me in the middle of the street. So in my mind, I’m about to f*** him up, because he’s little,” O’Neal later recalled from his chance encounter with the 6-foot-tall Brazilian fighter. Belfort had to explain that he was simply a fan of Shaq but one thing would lead to another, and his headline win against Jon Hess would become O’Neal’s first MMA event.
“He beat some 7-foot dude in some overalls, and I had never seen a sport like that. So I’ve been a fan ever since,” the 2000 NBA MVP revealed. However, Diesel is not the kind of fan who is just content watching on from the sidelines.
Shaquille O’Neal has expressed interest in fighting for UFC
“I’m a physical guy, I like physicality,” the NBA legend shared with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. His physicality was on full display when he dominated defenders in the paint and brought down rims with his dunks. But MMA scratched that itch in a different way for the Big Aristotle.
“I wish I could hit some of those NBA players I used to play against just like that,” he joked. But since that wasn’t an option, Shaq even considered fighting some MMA pros. “I wanted to fight a couple of pro guys, but there were having matches. So they put me against a guy my size who was an amateur, he wasn’t pro.”
Unfortunately for the 325-pound O’Neal, the heavyweight division has a cut-off of 265 pounds. Perhaps in an attempt to bypass the rules, Shaq went straight to the horse’s mouth, pestering Dana White to let him into the octagon.
“This maniac used to call me all the time: ‘I’m telling you Dana…I’m gonna fight in the UFC. I’m training,'” the CEO of UFC shared while on ‘The Big Podcast’ earlier this year.
If, by some miracle, Shaquille O’Neal can pull some strings and set up a UFC fight for himself, it will certainly be a pay-per-view for the ages.
