Recently, ex-UFC champ Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson had a sitdown with the legendary Brazilian UFC fighter and professional boxer, Vitor Belfort. The former UFC light heavyweights discussed a plethora of topics from their early days of fighting. During this chat, Belfort shed some light on his first fight in Hawaii, and the star-studded audience that attended it.

Vitor Belfort is a legend in MMA circles. He honed his skills under the tutelage of the famed and highly respected Carlson Gracie and went on to do great things in the UFC.  In the recent Jaxxon Podcast episode, Jackson was seen in conversation with Belfort as they took a trip down memory lane.

Vitor Belfort remembers the time Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal came out to see him

MMA was very different in the earlier days. There were not as many promotions as there are today. When Vitor Belfort fought John Hess for Superbrawl 2, the world was only warming up to the idea of martial arts. Belfort won the fight in the end and recalled the story in a recent podcast episode of the Jaxxon Podcast.

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“My first fight in Hawaii was no rules. The only thing you cannot do is biting. Kobe Bryant was seventeen – was there. Shaquille O’Neal was there…the whole Lakers team was there. Yeah!” recalled the UFC veteran and professional boxer, as Jackson and he started to talk about the initial days of MMA. Having the entire Lakers team attending an MMA fight back in the day was unimaginable, considering the reputation MMA had at the time.

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Jackson, finding all this fascinating, asked him a question about who he was fighting and Belfort replied, “Was against John Hess – the guy who blind a guy in UFC.” The entire conversation came up as Belfort remembered the older days when there were ‘no rules’ fights in MMA (except biting of course!).

O’Neal and the UFC – Francis Ngannou and Shaquille O’Neal’s beef

It seems that the UFC and NBA go way back. Not only did Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant come out to see Vitor Belfort defeat John Hess, but it seems O’Neal has even called out an ex-UFC champ.

Francis Ngannou and Shaquille O’Neal seem to share a cordial relationship but also take jibes at each other -all in good fun. ‘Shaq’ was engaged in a UFC PI training session where Ngannou popped up and said, “You’re taking up the whole building.” The two then shared a few warm hugs and took a few pictures. Ngannou said that the stature of O’Neal made him look little. However, at the end, Ngannou picked up ‘Shaq’, displaying his enormous might.

O’Neal took a dig at Ngannou after he had left the scene saying, things would have happened differently had Ngannou tried that with him in a UFC Octagon. There are clips of ‘Shaq’ training in MMA and he does look impressive.

What do you think about the NBA world’s affinity for MMA? Could the two mutually benefit each other? Let us know in the comments below!

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