Shaquille O’Neal has Vitor Belfort to thank for his lifetime love affair with MMA.
One of the greatest basketball players ever and among the biggest media personalities on the planet, Shaq, is also a huge MMA fan. “The Big Aristotle” started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and kickboxing back in 2000 and regularly attends UFC events. His passion for the sport even led to O’Neal becoming an unlockable character in UFC Undisputed 2010, and apparently it all started thanks to a chance encounter with Belfort.
“We’re at training camp in Hawaii, and I’m walking down the street, and a motherf***** grabs me, and he’s strong as fck,” O’Neal said on the Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo podcast. “I’m thinking, ‘Oh shit, it’s about to go down.’ And I turn around and we square up, and Vitor Belfort goes like this [raises hands] ‘No, no, no, man! I’m a fan of yours.’ I think this was UFC 1. Real talk. Motherfcker just grabs me so I’m getting ready to square up, ‘No, no, no! I’m just a fan!’ and he gave me tickets to his fight. And he beat some dude who had on some overalls. …
“The motherfcker grabbed me in the middle of the street. So in my mind, I’m about to f** him up, because he’s little. But he was nice. ‘No, no, no. My friend, my friend. I fight in the UFC. We have a fight.’ ‘Motherf*cker what time?’ We didn’t have shit to do. 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.”
Only Shaq could say this guy was really small and be right 
I love Shaq and Vitor.
Lol at no no no I’m a fan!
it’s a prank!
Imagine Vitor John Hessing Shaq in the middle of the street in Hawaii, John McCain would have worked even harder to ban the sport
Remember when we saw Hong Man Choi vs Canseco at Dynamite?
It would have been fun to see Shaq fight at Shockwave or Dynamite.
JMMA freakshow fights are a lost art in prizefighting.