Jon Jones isn’t the greatest fighter of all time for no reason. He has been dominating the Octagon ever since he climbed on board with the Ultimate Fighting Championship at UFC 87, back in 2008. With just one defeat in his professional MMA career of 29 fights, ‘Bones’ has established himself as a fan favorite. After all, he’s one of the handful of athletes who have conquered the thrones in two different weight divisions in the UFC. And his fear factor is a bit above the notch. He even scared Shaquille O’Neal, a 7’1” NBA giant. 

Now, the ‘Big Shaq’ has come up with a revelation of how Jones scared him at a Super Bowl event, back in 2020. But what does the heavyweight champion have to say about it? Let’s find out!

Jon Jones offers an apology to Shaquille O’Neal

When O’Neal made an appearance on Henry Cejudo’s ‘Pound4Pound’ podcast, he revealed that there were only two times when someone jumped him. And both of the instances involved heavyweight champions from the world of combat sports. The first one was, of course, the UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones. And the second instance involved the former world boxing heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson.  

Shaq narrated, “It’s only 2 times people have touched me, I don’t want to use the word ‘scared’ but, when you turn around and see their face, you turn it off. So, we were walking to the Super Bowl, and some motherf—er hit me in the back as hard as hell. I turn around like, “Mother… Oh, what’s up Jon? How are you doing, my boy?” And Tyson, the same way. I’m in the club in LA, a motherf—er hit me right on top, and I say, “What’s up, motherf— Oh, what’s up, Mike? How you doing?”

Years after the instance, when the video clip of the interview resurfaced yet again on social media, ‘Bones’ decided that it was high time to send forth an apology to the basketball legend. Jones took to Instagram and shared the footage on his IG story. In the text, he added, “Sorry @shaq”, followed by a laughing emoji and a praying emoji. 

Needless to say, both Tyson and Jones are formidable entities against which to stand in the arena. But what would happen if the two faced each other? Well, it seems like Dana White has an answer to that.

Dana White weighs in on Jones vs. Mike Tyson

In an appearance on the Piers Morgan Uncensored, the UFC head honcho was put in a dilemma, as he was left to compare the strengths of Jones and Tyson. But the world of combat sports didn’t expect White to crown the UFC champ as the ‘Baddest Man On The Planet’. Even though both of the fighters are heavyweights, their specialty lies in different aspects of combat sports. And Dana White knew this pretty well.

The UFC bossman claimed that Tyson’s flaw was his inability to take the fight to the ground. This would indeed lead to Jones getting a victory if the two ever happened to face each other. White opined,  “A hundred percent but Tyson doesn’t know the ground game. Tyson can’t grapple. Nobody loves Mike Tyson more than I do, believe me, but when you talk about putting two guys in a room who comes out, Jon Jones has the tools to beat everybody.”

White’s judgment was even backed by many in the fighting community. But the fight fans didn’t expect to see Jones apologizing to O’Neal so much time after jumping him. What do you think of Jones’ one-word apology? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.