NBA icon Shaquille O'Neal names Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones among his favorite UFC stars, lauds MMA fighters as "greatest athletes ever"

Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones have been identified as two of legendary basketball player Shaquille O'Neal's favorite UFC fighters, by the man himself. The NBA great was a recent guest on Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru & Henry, which, as the name implies, is a podcast hosted by Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo.

During his appearance, O'Neal, a longtime combat sports fan, had nothing but good things to say about both Adesanya and Jones.

"You [Kamaru Usman], of course, I'm watching. I'm watching... I can never say [right], Adesanya."

He further detailed an encounter with Jones, which he counts as among the few times he ever felt physically intimidated by another man.

"Of course, Jon 'Bones' Jones. It's only two times people, three times people have touched me. I don't want to use the word 'scared,' but when you turn around and see their face. We was walking through the Super Bowl and the Giants and motherf***er hit me in my back hard as hell. I turned around, like, 'Motherf**-, oh what's up Jon? How you doing, my boy?'"

Check out Shaquille O'Neal talking about Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones (27:50 and 28:21):

This isn't the first time O'Neal has encountered MMA fighters. In fact, Jones isn't the only UFC champion he's had the pleasure with whom to cross paths. The former basketball player once met the legendary Vitor Belfort back in the Brazilian's early UFC days, who he claims knocked someone out on his behalf.

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Shaquille O'Neal heaps praise on MMA fighters as a whole, not just Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones

During the course of the interview, Shaquille O'Neal deviated from his fanfare of Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones to speak highly of MMA as a whole. He expressed a deep level of admiration for the skills and athleticism shown by fighters, even going as far as hailing them as the world's greatest athletes. He said:

"I'm watching all the top fighters. You guys are probably the greatest athletes ever because you have to like... Us [basketball players], run, jump. Football, run, tackle, and that's no knock on everybody, but you guys, the way you train, the way you get hit, knocked out, knocking people out, you guys are the greatest athletes."

Check out Shaquille O'Neal's praise for MMA fighters (28:54):

It is high praise from O'Neal, considering he himself was a top athlete and is widely considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Furthermore, he has been training in MMA since 2000, and even once expressed an interest in facing towering MMA fighter Hongman Choi.