UFC 236 this past weekend presented fight fans with two of the best title bouts you’ll ever see inside of the Octagon. The main event featured UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway jumping up to 155 pounds. He faced off against Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier for the interim UFC lightweight championship. When all was said and […]
UFC 236 this past weekend presented fight fans with two of the best title bouts you’ll ever see inside of the Octagon.
The main event featured UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway jumping up to 155 pounds. He faced off against Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier for the interim UFC lightweight championship. When all was said and done, Poirier left the cage the new interim lightweight champion of the world.
He will now likely unify his title with Khabib Nurmagomedov upon the Russian’s return from suspension this summer. The UFC recently released a clip from their upcoming UFC 236 “The Thrill and the Agony” video on Twitter. The clip featured the aftermath of the bloody war between Poirier and Holloway.
Holloway’s son, “Mini-Blessed” could be seen crying after his father’s loss, but was soon comforted by NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal who was cageside for the action. Check out the clip below:
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.&nb…
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.
Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal believes he could step into the world of mixed martial arts and perform better against UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey than some of her previous challengers.
OK, so maybe Shaq didn’t explicitly …
Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal believes he could step into the world of mixed martial arts and perform better against UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey than some of her previous challengers.
OK, so maybe Shaq didn’t explicitly say that, but he did say during TNT’s Inside the NBA he could “last 45 seconds” with Rousey, a time stamp that is significantly better than the 14 seconds of cage time enjoyed by the most recent challenger, Cat Zingano (h/t FoxSports). Before Zingano, Alexis Davis lasted just 16 seconds with Rousey, so Shaq‘s claim of 45 seconds would be nearly triple the benchmark set by other professional fighters.
Let’s be clear: Any talk of Rousey vs. a man is silly and should only be discussed in good fun. Shaq embraces the idea of “good fun.”
Besides being an MMA fan, Shaq has trained MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu for years, so he’s somewhat qualified to estimate how long he’d last against the likes of Rousey.
He’s also a giant, if you weren’t aware.
At 7’1″ and 324 pounds, Shaq was a man among boys during his 19-year NBA career. He frequently overpowered and embarrassed other 7-footers, and he’s likely put on some weight since his days on the hardwood.
Against Rousey, the size difference would be comical, and I truly don’t know whether Rousey‘s technique would be enough to get the job done without tiring him out a bit first. A guess of 45 seconds seems entirely reasonable when we’re talking about a man of Shaq‘s sheer size and strength.
What do you think? Is Shaq overestimating himself, or could he really last 45 seconds with Rousey inside the UFC Octagon?
Jose Canseco likes to run his mouth on Twitter about anything and everything he possibly can, but he may have backed himself into a corner challenging Shaquille O’Neal to a mixed martial arts fight. Shaq finally decided to call Canseco out for run…
Jose Canseco likes to run his mouth on Twitter about anything and everything he possibly can, but he may have backed himself into a corner challenging Shaquille O’Neal to a mixed martial arts fight.
Shaq finally decided to call Canseco out for running his mouth about how much he wants to fight the former NBA superstar.
“I challenged him a long time ago,” said O’Neal. “If he wants it done, he knows where to find me. He can be high off whatever, and I’ll be high off Frosted Flakes.”
Since the challenge has been accepted, all that we need is for Canseco to stay true to his word and sign a contract.
What we wanted to do is breakdown the battle of these two former superstars. Here is our unofficial tale of the tape for a potential Shaq vs. Jose MMA fight.
Size
O’Neal: 7’1″, 325 pounds
Canseco: 6’1″, 250 pounds*
Analysis: This one is a no-contest. O’Neal is going to overpower Canseco in every conceivable way. He if a full foot taller, will have a huge reach advantage and will have more power in everything he does.
Advantage: O’Neal
Style
O’Neal: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Canseco: Boxing
Analysis: Part of the problem with Canseco’s challenge for a mixed martial arts fight is that he doesn’t use all of the elements at his disposal. He is no joke, with a black belt in karate and Taekwando, but he wants to box before trying anything else.
O’Neal, on the other hand, has spent time training at Jonathan Burke’s Gracie Gymnasium. He understands the art of MMA. He would shoot in on Canseco right out of the gate, take him down, work a ground and pound before locking in a triangle choke.
Advantage: O’Neal
Fight History
O’Neal: None
Canseco: 0-1
Despite O’Neal’s training, he has yet to step inside the cage to take out his frustrations on someone. He was preoccupied with other things, like that pesky NBA career or trying to sell the sequel to Kazaam, but he is ready to go now.
Canseco has had fights, both professional and exhibitions, in his career. The problem is, he doesn’t actually win the matches. He did have one victory against Todd Poulton in the Celebrity Boxing Federation, but other than that he has come up short.
Still, you have to give Canseco the advantage in experience here because he has been in the ring and knows what to expect.
Advantage: Canseco
Final Prediction
Canseco has backed himself into a corner asking for this fight. He is not a well-rounded mixed martial artist even though he has two black belts. He does have power to land a knockout shot, but the fact that he would have to reach his arm up a lot to land a shot on the chin is a major disadvantage.
O’Neal has the size and weight advantage. He is probably faster than Canseco, which says more about Canseco than O’Neal. Even if he can’t finish the fight, he would just take Canseco down and hold him there for three rounds.
Dream fights come along only once or twice a generation. For fight fans in the 2010s, there are only three fights that really transcend their respective sports. Fights that would get everyone in the sports world talking.In boxing, the dream fight to en…
Dream fights come along only once or twice a generation. For fight fans in the 2010s, there are only three fights that really transcend their respective sports. Fights that would get everyone in the sports world talking.
In boxing, the dream fight to end all dream fights is Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao. It’s a fight that has, thus far, mainly taken place in the press.
Unfortunately, the way things are going, if it ever happens it will be at a retirement home in South Beach with both men coming slowly to the ring on Rascals. A fight while both are in their primes? Forget about it.
Mixed martial arts doesn’t have a single fight that powerful. Some fans are excited to see Georges St-Pierre, the reigning welterweight champion, take on the amazing middleweight champion Anderson Silva. The size differential between the two men, more than 20 pounds, has halted this one in its tracks.
This leaves us with only one fight that can define our generation. A battle between two superstars, men so popular and iconic that it seems impossible to believe a single arena could possibly be enough to hold all the interested spectators.
Of course, I could only be talking about Shaquille O’Neal versus Jose Canseco,
You remember Canseco right?
In his prime, he was putting notches on his bedpost at a Ryan Reynolds-like pace and becoming the first member of baseball’s 40/40 club, notching 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same season. Later, he was one of the first players to admit widespread steroid abuse in the sport.
Yes, that Shaquille O’Neal. The recently retired basketball star best known for his power moves, mumbling, incoherent interviews and the movie Kazaam, not necessarily in that order.
Will this fight ever actually take place? What would a fight between the two men even look like, considering Shaq is 40 and Jose Canseco is 47? What’s the over/under on high-price escorts traveling to whatever town is blessed with this potential matchup? These are burning questions that demand answers.
I never thought anyone would out-Pride the Pride Fight Championships. But if this fight comes off, there will be a new king of the freak-show fights. I welcome them with open arms.
As soon as Shaquille O’Neal announced his retirement from the NBA in early June, speculation began as to when he would be joining the UFC in some capacity. The four-time NBA champion has long been a fan and practitioner of mixed martial arts,…
As soon as Shaquille O’Neal announced his retirement from the NBA in early June, speculation began as to when he would be joining the UFC in some capacity. The four-time NBA champion has long been a fan and practitioner of mixed martial arts, training with Jonathan Burke. Burke, is a BJJ black belt and was the second person to be promoted to that rank by MMA legend Royce Gracie.
Shaq recently appeared on HDNet’s Inside MMA and plainly stated his admiration for those that compete in MMA, saying, “Well, I have to go on record and say that the MMA fighters are the greatest athletes in the world, mentally and physically.” Shaq then went on to recount his first experience with MMA after a chance meeting with Vitor Belfort in Hawaii.
After watching Belfort knock out Jon Hess in 12 seconds, Shaq was hooked on the sport. A few years later he began training with Burke, and, as he says in the HDNet interview, “ironically” he began winning NBA championships after starting that training.
Shaq has been seen at UFC events and counts UFC president Dana White among his friends. With his admiration for the sport of MMA and its athletes, it would make perfect sense for Shaq to join the UFC in some promotional capacity—a fact that is not lost on White. He recently told ESPN’s First Take that, “He’s always been a good friend to us and I’m sure you’re going to see Shaq around the UFC a lot.”
Ronda