Ronda Rousey has faith in Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal’s abilities inside the cage.
Speaking with TMZ Sports, Rousey responded positively to O’Neal’s claim that he could last 45 seconds against her in a full-on mixed martial arts bout.
“Yeah, you know, if a chick could last past 45 seconds, I don’t see why Shaq couldn’t,” Rousey said.
Lasting 45 seconds in the cage with Rousey—the undefeated and seemingly untouchable UFC women’s bantamweight champion—is no easy feat.
Her last two opponents, Alexis Davis and Cat Zingano, didn’t last that long—combined.
At UFC 175 in July 2014, Davis made it just 16 seconds with Rousey before the referee was forced to stop the contest. In that fight, Rousey immediately took the center of the Octagon, tossed Davis on her head and rained down punches until the man in charge waved the fight off.
In her quest to constantly one-up herself, however, Rousey had something even quicker in mind for her most recent challenger, Zingano. At UFC 184 in February, Zingano flew out of the gates with a flying knee, and the bout was essentially sealed.
Off balance from her attack, Zingano was forced into a scramble on the ground with Rousey, and the MMA savant snatched her arm in short order, ending the bout via armbar in just 14 seconds.
While Shaq may not have professional fighting experience, he does dabble in MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. On top of this, he is a large, large man.
At 7’1″ and somewhere around 350 pounds, Shaq weighs more than two-and-a-half times the bantamweight limit of 135 pounds under which Rousey holds her title.
He may not be as skilled as Davis or Zingano, but he’s massive, insanely strong and a world-class athlete.
For somebody like him, lasting 45 seconds with Rousey inside the UFC Octagon isn’t so far-fetched. For the rest of us, though, it’d be surprising to see the clock hit double digits.
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