No. 10: Shaquille O’Neal
Summary: Those who know me know I have no love lost when it comes to Shaquille O’Neal.
Nevertheless, despite my thoughts on O’Neal as both a person and a player, you cannot deny that the man has a place on this list.
Not only has “Shaq” shown interest in martial arts through avenues like reality TV or video games (yes, I’m referring to “Shaq Fu”), but he’s also firmly amid Dana White’s Rolodex of celebrity supporters in regards to his visual and vocal presence in MMA.
Although I couldn’t find any official Brazilian jiu-jitsu ranks under O’Neil’s proverbial belt, the NBA superstar – who has experience training in mixed martial arts – used to “spar naked” with teammates. According to former coach Alvin Gentry, a stark naked O’Neil would ambush unsuspecting players and coaches alike in the locker room after practices.
However, fun and games aside, even O’Neal admits that the “WWE world” is more appealing, as it seems that the big man would’ve only been interested in annual appearances within the fight world. If that’s that case, then I say send O’Neal to RIZIN for their New Year’s Eve shows since super heavyweight is the only weight class he qualifies for anyways.
So long as O’Neil’s striking has improved since the missed sucker punch he threw at Brad Miller, then he should be able to make a decent account of himself.
Shaquille O’Neal vs. Forrest Griffin:
[protected-iframe id=”21b1764b5a4e2ba7d5f1bbce4ae12b94-58289362-57329066″ info=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fbigchickenshaqshow%2Fvideos%2F571942693236848%2F&show_text=0&width=560″ width=”560″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″ style=”border: none; overflow: hidden;” scrolling=”no”]