The NBA has certain guidelines regarding participation of players in other sports. However, Shaquille O’Neal could take part in one such prohibited sport, MMA. Here’s how:
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How Shaquille O’Neal could to do MMA
The standard NBA contract explicitly prohibits boxing, professional wrestling, motorcycling, moped-riding, auto-racing, sky-diving and hang-gliding. On the other hand, it officially permits golf, tennis, handball, swimming, hiking, softball and volleyball. The NBA takes these measures, considering the well-being of its players.
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Surprisingly enough, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal learned MMA in his early years, and continued over time. In a recent interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani on ESPN’s Instagram Live, Shaq discussed his love for MMA.
O’Neal told Helwani that MMA was the reason he became a champion.
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“I always used to practice basketball. It wasn’t enough. Because when I played basketball, it was more wrestling. So when I trained MMA with Jon Burke, a friend of mine down in Orlando, I came back in the best shape of my life. That was in 2000. Won. Dominated.”
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Shaq further said that he continued practice and won four championships. Talking about why he liked that sport, he said,
“I like physicality. MMA athletes are probably the best athletes on the planet.”Helwani highlighted the matter of the NBA contract. Shaq revealed that he had a few clauses in his contract, which gave him a little more liberty.
“I had a couple of clauses in my contract. I was allowed to drive a motorcycle. Only thing I couldn’t do was scuba dive and sky dive. Everything else I could do. I can go to concerts and raves. I can play boxing matches”
Recently, Shaq took the next step as he grappled in a match against a UFC fighter. In Thursday’s episode of his new TNT show, “Shaq Life,” O’Neal competes on the mat with UFC heavyweight (and former NFL star) Greg Hardy.
O’Neal said that he felt Greg Hardy was the strongest guy he has ever wrestled in his life. He then revealed, “If we got into it, it’d probably be a long day for me.”
Apart from being part of the NBA and MMA community, Shaquille O’Neal is also an educator, a deputy and a DJ.
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