Shaquille O’Neal Once Knocked an NBA Teammate Unconscious With a Sleeper Hold Courtesy of an MMA Dispute

Shaquille O’Neal isn’t one of those athletes who become irrelevant post-retirement. He has maintained a wide fan following across countries and sports. And the reason behind that is the unique persona he carries even today. Apart from being a millionaire retired athlete with various businesses, ‘Shaq’ is humorous, impulsive, and sometimes a bit short-tempered. And funnily enough, he’s remarkably candid about it.

By appearing on many TV shows and live gigs, ‘Shaq’ has established his on-screen presence and fans love to hear his stories from the past. He stated one of the craziest myths around him to be true while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Shaquille O’Neal admitted to knocking out his teammate by a submission move before an NBA match.

Kimmel was quizzing ‘Shaq’ about some myths around him and asked, “You once put a teammate, when you were on the Phoenix Suns, in a sleeper hold, and rendered him unconscious shortly before a game?”

“True,” ‘Shaq’ responded.

Kimmel asked him why, and ‘Shaq’ revealed an MMA fight to be the reason behind it.

He replied, “Because somebody from his country was fighting a guy that I knew in MMA. He just kept talking ‘oh my god, my guy’ I’m like bro we got a game, relax. But he just kept and then he got in my face and then you know my reflex is just. Like I didn’t wanna do it on purpose but he came in my space and then my reflexes just…”

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Shaquille O’Neal is a big fan of combat sports and loves getting involved whenever he has an opportunity. He has many friends at the UFC, AEW, and WWE and even made multiple guest appearances at the franchises.

Shaquille O’Neal knocks out Chuck Liddell

However, this wasn’t the only time Shaquille O’Neal knocked somebody out. In a hilarious throwback video, he was sparring at the gym, giving out challenges to the likes of Hong-man Choi and former UFC champion Chuck Liddell.

He even had a cardboard cutout of Liddell right next to him. And Shaq didn’t shy away from bullying the cutout. The 7’ 1” tall basketball player threw a wild arm at Liddell’s cutout, shoving it to the ground. And topped it off by eventually kissing the beaten-up cardboard cutout and saying, “Shaq kisses him… Shaq kisses him on the mouth. Oh my God! Disrespecting the UFC!!!”

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What do you think about the surprising revelation from Shaq? Let us know in the comments.