“Mighty Mouse by submission” - Fans give their takes on hypothetical matchup between Demetrious Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal

ONE flyweight MMA world champion Demetrious Johnson is undoubtedly one of the best pound-for-pound mixed martial artists of all time, and his resume speaks for itself. He has won in every organization that he has joined and has been to successfully defend world titles multiple times.

Because of this, he always has been pitted in hypothetical matchups with other fighters and even other athletes in other sports. Recently, he was matched with NBA legend and basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal.

In a recent Instagram post by DAZN MMA, the 37-year-old American legend was asked if he could take on O'Neal in a fight. Johnson said that he will have difficulty fighting the four-time NBA champion in hand-to-hand combat, but if it's in an MMA ruleset, Johnson would fully utilize his elite grappling skills.

'Mighty Mouse' proved that he could hang with much heavier athletes that ate double his size by competing in the openweight division of the IBJJF Pans last March.

This statement by Johnson was backed up by fans in the comment section as users @stirling67, @jaezii_, @jason_gustin, @steam_punk_heart, and @therealjonbermudez broke down how he could beat 'The Diesel' and agreed on his plan to maximize his elite Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills by commenting:

"shaq would gas too quick mighty mouse by submission rd3"

"He could do it 100%, it would be 5-6 minutes of circling around Shaq and faking single leg takedown attempts but eventually he would find his back and choke him out. Not guaranteed but it's def possible. That's the most skilled MMA fighter of all time."

"He literally submitted a 250lb BJJ opponent in a tournament. What's at extra few lbs and no experience."

"DJ submitted a 250 lbs BJJ fighter, do you really think a guy with no experience will make a difference???"

"One kick to the leg and shaq drops like a sack of potatoes"

Screenshot of fans' comments

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Demetrious Johnson explains how he felt taking on a 250-pound opponent in BJJ

Speaking of fighting a physically-imposing opponent, Johnson also shared his experience of competing against the 250-pound opposition through his appearance on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.

According to the reigning undisputed ONE flyweight MMA world champion, that experience was similar to when a bear gets a hold of a baby lamb. Despite the massive discrepancy in their weight, Johnson still managed to get the victory by submission.