Shaquille O’Neal Lost $2,500 to Dana White’s Female Fighter in Sweaty Octagon Battle on the Big Chicken Series (2018)

Weight classes in MMA exist for a reason. But Shaquille O’Neal learned the hard way that an average person stands no chance against a professional martial artist. While visiting the UFC performance institute in an episode of The Big Chicken series in 2018, the Los Angeles Lakers legend understood that even the smallest opponents can be deadly.

As Shaq proclaimed, “I would never get strangled by a girl,” UFC president Dana White made the 4x NBA champion face a strawweight fighter, only for Shaq to tap out and lose 2500 dollars in the process instantly.

Shaquille O’Neal was set up by Dana White to lose the money

The rules were simple. One round of grappling for 5 minutes. But Shaq had to get through UFC legend Forrest Griffin, who has a 19-7 record, before facing the then #3 ranked strawweight, Claudia Gadelha. Dana White was confident in his fighters. So he made Shaq place a $2500 bet to stop himself from getting put in a choke by Gadelha.

Of course, the 7-foot former NBA MVP thought it would be a walk in the park, as he weighed significantly more than them. “Forest, you are not stepping into the octagon; you are stepping into the Shaq-tagon. It’s gonna be a rumble,” said Shaq. Since it was just grappling, the big man might have hoped to use his size to his advantage.

But for the professionals who were taught their whole lives to defend against takedowns and fighting on the ground, initially, Shaquille O’Neal did not pose much of a threat. But slowly Shaq started to gain a hold of Griffin, but he defended himself well till the time ran out. Shaq was fully exhausted by then and was lying on the floor in the octagon. But that’s when Claudia Gadelha launched her surprising attack.

She snuck up on Shaq, and the 115-pound Brazilian fighter had Shaq in a rare neck choke. Since there was no room for escape as Gadelha had fully gotten a hold of Shaq with her legs around him, Shaq tapped out.

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It looks like Shaq learned his lesson as he finally said, “I don’t think I’ll be spending much more time in the octagon. I need some icy hot.” But do you know this is not his first stint in the UFC?

Shaq has always supported the UFC

It might not be as obvious, but Shaquille O’Neal has always been involved with the UFC.

Before announcing his retirement from basketball, Shaq had told Dana White that he wanted to be a part of the organization. This is why he was in the first season of Ultimate Fighter.

He is so close with White that Shaq once offered to give his own Orlando mansion to the UFC to use for their press conference.

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What do you think of Shaquille O’Neal stepping inside the octagon? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!