International Fight Week hasn’t just brought some of the biggest names in MMA to the fight capital of the world.
UFC 317 is set to close out a huge week for the promotion with Ilia Topuria facing Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title in the main event on June 28.
An event of this scale is always going to attract some celebrity interest, with Drake revealing his prediction for Topuria vs Oliveira via social media.
This was also the case for the UFC Hall of Fame ceremony earlier this week, where the likes of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson were in attendance as he inducted Mark Kerr into the Pioneer wing.
What some fans may not know is that NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has been a fan of the sport for a long time, meaning that he’s witnessed many of the UFC’s most iconic fights.
Shaquille O’Neal says he’d convert new fans with Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz
Shaquille O’Neal was at the UFC’s Hall of Fame ceremony having been asked to attend by his long-time friend and UFC legend, Vitor Belfort.
While he may have been brought into the sport by a fighter, any fan will have that one bout that they’d point to as the matchup that could convince someone to becoming a new audience member.
For O’Neal, that fight is the iconic meeting between friends turned rivals, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell.
O’Neal is seemingly making reference to the first meeting between two of the UFC’s early stars, which took place at UFC 47 in 2004.
The former training partners grew apart over the years and when both of them were in need of a big win to secure a shot at the light heavyweight title, they finally faced off and put the rumors of what happened behind closed doors to bed.
Liddell went on to stop Ortiz in the second round before beating him in their rematch two years later where ‘The Iceman’ defended his light heavyweight crown.
After providing a vague answer, O’Neal zeroed in on the fight he would choose to win over new fans when speaking to the media.
“All of them, especially the ones with the knockouts. No, I probably show them Tito and ‘Iceman’. Yeah, Tito and Chuck. All of that.”
Shaquille O’Neal recalls what his first impression of the UFC was
Vitor Belfort, who was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame earlier this week, is the fighter that befriended Shaquille O’Neal and got him invested in the sport.
While Belfort would continue competing inside the Octagon until 2018, he first arrived on the scene all the way back in 1997 when the sport was very different to what it is today.
When speaking to the media about being in attendance to celebrate his friend’s career, Shaquille O’Neal recalled what it was like attending his first event and what his initial impressions of the sport were.
“He was the one that got me involved with the sport. I’ve never seen anything like that. It was a legalized bar brawl. The first fight I went to with him, 10 seconds. Kicks to the head, knees. I was like, ‘What the f— am I watching?’ And then the Feritta brothers and Dana just took it to the next level.”
