Shaquille O’Neal is in good books with Dana White and has a sound inclination towards the UFC. Who would have thought that the NBA legend would also be interested in combat sports? Recently, Shaq came on the Pound 4 Pound show with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo and delivered his respect to MMA and UFC fighters. The MVP of basketball and four-time NBA champion shared his honest opinion on the industry and also chose his favorite fighter. He also praised fighters like Israel Adesanya, Jon Jones, and co. as, “the greatest athletes ever.”

Shaq complimented Usman and Cejudo, spoke about their fighting styles, and also praised Israel Adesanya, who returned the favor. He even gave a special message to Usman and Cejudo because of their defeat in their previous fight.

Shaquille O’Neal gives a pat on the back to Usman and Cejudo

The NBA champion has a deep respect for MMA fighters, and he has complimented them on many occasions in this podcast. The duo discussed everything from Diesel’s first UFC event with Vitor Belfort and also went down memory lane with his childhood lessons and adventures on the court. When they were ending the podcast, that is when Shaq gave them motivation and praise for their prowess.

The former Flyweight Champion and Bantamweight Champion got praise along with the Middleweight fighter. O’Neal said, “It’s a pleasure knowing you guys and I love your work and I always support you guys win or lose you know. You lost the last time they wanted to bother you but I just told you would fight to cause you to know people criticize what you all can’t do.”

He continued his remarks, and said, “Another reason why I don’t listen to criticizing is if you can’t like I call it the G14 classification. Mo** you can’t fight don’t say nothing about these two ever [Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo].”

Shaq was generous with his praise for the UFC fighters and said that he had the greatest respect for all of them. He spoke to Usman and Cejudo about how they KO-ed people, even after getting hit. He appreciated Israel Adesanya among other fighters, and Adesanya returned the favor too!

Israel Adesanya appreciated Shaq’s praise

O’Neal also appreciated Usman’s slick style of fighting and Cejudo’s swift speed. He appreciated Adesanya and co saying, “I’m watching you [Kamaru Usman], of course. I’m watching Adesanya [and the] old boy from Phoenix [Sean O’Malley]… He’s a bad boy too. Francis [Ngannou] had a tough fight… [and] of course, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones.”

When Adesanya got to know of the praises that were showered upon him by the NBA legend, he could not help but share a story on Instagram with the video clip of O’Neal speaking about him and his fellow UFC fighters.

He showed his appreciation for being called one of the GOATS in the UFC industry. Izzy is also ready to fight because he gave Dana White the signal recently for UFC 305. Do you think he will win and make Shaq proud again?