Shaquille O’Neal recently faced off with UFC legend Forrest Griffin inside the Octagon during a stop at the UFC Performance Center in Las Vegas.

On Monday, Shaq talked exclusively with For The Win about that fight and what made him the most proud of his performance.

“I was only worried about not getting submitted,” he told FTW over the phone while making an appearance at a Boys & Girls Club in Atlanta. “I’ve been doing it (MMA) but not on the level he has so I just had to stay safe and play it safe. But he was a strong fella and he said the same thing about me. I’m gonna blow my head up pretty high for not getting submitted because when you cross over into somebody’s sport talking all that trash you better be able to back it up.”

Was Shaq nervous at all when the door closed and it was just he and a former UFC champ and Hall of Famer standing inside the Octagon?

“No, no,” he said. “I’m a fighter.”

You can watch the full video here:

Also seen on that video was UFC women’s strawweight fighter Claudia Gadelha, who’s 5-foot-4 and 115 pounds, jumping into the Octagon and choking out Shaq moments after his fight with Griffin ended.

“I was supposed to wrestler her next but she saw me wrestle with Forrest and she realized she couldn’t beat me. Because I told her, I said, ‘Listen, little young lady, if you can make me tap out I’ll give you $10,000 right now. So then she came in in the back and got me when I wasn’t looking.”

Shaq has long been a UFC fan and has attended a few fights in person. So we had to ask the crazy that question: What if way back when he turned to MMA instead of basketball, could he have been a legend in the MMA world?

“Probably not that world, probably the WWE world,” he said. “(MMA) is like real combat and it’s ok to do every now and then but twice a year, or three times a year – I like to fight, but I don’t like to fight that much.”

He said he doesn’t have a favorite fighter, but knows the fight game pretty well:

“I’m real good friends with (UFC middleweight) Yoel Romero, he’s a very, very close friend,” Shaq said. “I would love to see Jon Jones get back on track. Daniel Cormier is a professional. I love Conor McGregor. He’s Irish, I’m Irish. It’s all about the show and going out to compete and having fun.”

And Shaq definitely had some fun with the UFC.

Creed II star Michael B. Jordan stopped by the set of Inside the NBA on Thursday, so he and Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and co. tried to see who is the best boxer — sort of.

They brought in a punching bag arcade game to measure which one of them has the hardest punch, and like so many other things this crew attempts, it was absurdly hilarious. Barkley said he nearly missed the stationary target, while Kenny Smith appeared to punch with the front of his fingers and wrist/palm of his hand.

But unsurprisingly, Shaq — who looked at least a foot taller than the bag — had the greatest attempt his first time around. Not only did he almost fall over after making contact, but he also lost his shoe.

His second attempt was much better, but naturally, Jordan and fellow Creed actor Florian Munteanu were the best all around.

It’s the holiday season, so Shaquille O’Neal answered the most important question on everybody’s mind: How do you make the perfect gingerbread house?

OK, so maybe not everyone wants this particular question broken down, but once you hear Shaq’s explanation, you’ve gotta admit that he’s put some thought into this and it’s actually a solid idea.

First, gingerbread on the outside, which is a given because without it, it wouldn’t be a gingerbread house. But pound cake on the inside is genius. It’s strong and enhances the structural integrity of the house. Plus, it will help buttress what comes next in the house’s details.

Glaze or frosting that will last forever seems tricky, but you can probably make some that will at least last a long time. Shaq just wants to be able to swipe some of it every time he walks by.

And then we have the pièce de résistance: the Krispy Kreme doughnut roof. However, Shaq does not specify if the doughnuts are stacked like pieces of a traditional roof or if they’re sliced up and flattened or what. We need these details, Mr. O’Neal.

Inside this magnificent gingerbread house is a couch made from lemon Oreos, but that’s apparently the only piece of furniture inside.

Overall, Shaq’s got the right idea about how to craft a traditional yet creative gingerbread house, complete with the most spectacular rooftop.

In the spirit of the holiday season, Shaq also tried to name as many Christmas movies as possible in 20 seconds. Props to him for brilliantly — though possibly cheating — naming multiple variations of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

M. Night Shyamalan’s new film Glass, starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, opens January 18th. The early reviews haven’t been stellar, potentially because the movie is missing a key superhero from its lineup: Shaq.

The NBA on TNT crew recreated the Glass trailer to add Shaq as a cast member, and the result is tremendous.

Steph Curry slipping on what he said was a wet spot earlier this week in the most embarrassing 10 seconds of the Golden State Warriors’ superstar’s career was tailor made for Shaqtin’ a Fool, the Inside the NBA hoops blooper reel.

Heck, the Twitter account for the segment hosted by Shaquille O’Neal wondered if the slip on a breakaway and subsequent airballed three-pointer was the “SHAQIN OF THE YEAR”:

Yet it wasn’t included. Why? O’Neal said Curry was “his favorite player,” so he wasn’t doing it. So Curry thanked Shaq for it and joked he was thinking about bringing the backboard down like O’Neal did in 1993:

It’s not like O’Neal makes exceptions for every star. Last year, Joel Embiid “won” Shaqtin MVP for a bunch of gaffes.

It doesn’t matter who you ask — every basketball fan, player or coach has an opinion on the LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan debate. Instead of living in the moment and appreciating a historic basketball career, many fans feel the obligation to compare players across generations in a never-ending debate about who is the GOAT.

The debate seemingly comes up multiple times a year with LeBron and Jordan being the consensus top 2 players.

Shaquille O’Neal doesn’t even agree with that.

In a recent feature from Bleacher Report, Shaq stood up for his former Lakers teammate and said that it’s a sign of disrespect for LeBron to jump Kobe Bryant in the GOAT conversation.

Shaq said via Bleacher Report

“I find it quite disrespectful that they don’t bring Kobe’s name up,” he says of his onetime teammate and rival. “That kind of pisses me off how they just skip over him and say, ‘LeBron.’ I don’t understand that. Because I was there with him, and he was a bad mother(expletive), too.”

Here we go again.

Shaq ultimately said that he’d rank Michael Jordan as the GOAT. On the other hand, Kobe said he would have picked LeBron over Shaq for the 2005 All-Star captain. So, there’s that.

You can read the full story here.

Dwyane Wade has been enjoying his final NBA season all year long by trading jerseys with other stars after games and just soaking in all special little moments of what has been a legendary career.

The 13-time All-Star won two NBA championships with his good friend LeBron James during their time in Miami. But his first one came way back in the  2005-06 season when he teamed up with Shaquille O’Neal to beat Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks in six games.

The clinching win happened in Dallas and before Wednesday night’s game against the Mavs, Wade took a moment to relive the final seconds of the 2006   Finals:

You can see that he nailed it:

Well done, D-Wade.

Without explicitly saying it, the Los Angeles Lakers are giving up on their very unlikely playoff chances by putting LeBron James on a minutes restriction and possibly keeping him from playing back-to-backs.

Somewhat similar to how the internet reacted to that news, the Inside the NBA crew interpreted this as the Lakers admitting it’s not happening for them in 2019.

And, of course, Charles Barkley had jokes.

“Can’t he get rest when the playoffs start?” Chuck asked with LeBron’s late spring likely being free for the first time in years. Eventually, Barkley’s train of thought led him to wonder: “You think we can get him on the show?”

When Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal brushed Barkley’s suggestion off, he ignored them and turned to the camera to address LeBron directly with his pitch:

“Since you gonna have some free time once the playoffs start, I’ve got a seat for you. The first weekend of the playoffs, you can stay. We’ll put you up at a good hotel, we’ll get you a first-class ticket. We want you. We always bring players in for the playoffs. You’re not going to be busy during the playoffs, so I’m inviting you here.”

Realizing the ridiculousness of Barkley’s pitch that was inviting yet hilariously insulting, Shaq offered to do LeBon a favor:

“LeBron, you have my number. Shoot me a text, I’ll send you my bank account number if you want me to knock him out for you.”

As the Inside the NBA crew then congratulated James on passing Michael Jordan this week for fourth place on the all-time scoring list. And then Chuck made one last attempt to lure LeBron to the set.

“Congratulations on passing MJ, but please come to the studio for the playoffs. You’ve got nothing else to do!” Barkley said.

Shaquille O’Neal was a guest on the hit YouTube show “Hot Ones” this week and he didn’t disappoint, as the NBA legend was brought to tears from some really hot wings.

In case “Hot Ones” is new to you, it’s a great show where host Sean Evans interviews celebrities, athletes, comedians, etc. while eating one wing at a time, with the heat getting kicked up with each one.

It usually starts off pretty easy for the guest and then becomes great when the really hot ones kick in while they’re trying to answer serious questions while fighting the extreme heat that is taking over and making life miserable.

Seriously, if you haven’t watched this show take some time today to binge it because it is highly enjoyable.

Here’s a compilation of Shaq’s reactions to the hot ones:

Here are some great screengrabs of Shaq’s appearance:

Here’s the complete episode. Shaq gets hit hard by the heat at the 18:25 mark and it’s awesome.

And here are some of my favorite episodes:

Kevin Durant

Go to 16:30 for when hit takes a great turn.

Bill Burr

The whole thing is tremendous.

Gordon Ramsay

This is one is amazing.

Enjoy.

The Los Angeles Lakers need a new president following Magic Johnson’s abrupt exit on Tuesday night, which reportedly blindsided owner Jeanie Buss and superstar LeBron James. Johnson broke the news to reporters following a Lakers loss at home, announcing that he’s “not gonna be here” in a speech that spawned a thousand memes.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, LeBron James and his agent, Rich Paul, had just met with Johnson and GM Rob Pelinka this weekend, and had no idea that Johnson was on the verge of quitting. Johnson didn’t even inform Jeanie Buss prior to spilling the news, and explained to Rachel Nichols that he believes he would have been convinced to stay in his position had he told Buss beforehand.

In any event, the Lakers need to fill Johnson’s vacant position heading into a pivotal summer, and they may not have to go very far to find a capable executive. Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal said on Tuesday that he believes the team should hire Jerry West away from the Clippers. West, who previously worked as an executive with the Warriors and served as Lakers GM from 1983 to 1994, joined the Clippers in 2017.

“I’m going to go on the record and say this. There’s a gentleman across the hall who is a born Laker. He was general manager when I was there and things didn’t work out and he kind of went away. I would like to see him get that job. Gentleman by the name of Jerry West. If anyone can bring the franchise back to where it was, it’s definitely Jerry West.”

Like they so often tend to do, things got out of control on Inside the NBA on Monday night when the gang learned about Dyngus Day, a Polish and Ukrainian holiday celebrated the Monday after Easter, per HolidaysCalendar.com.

Their brief on-air celebration of the holiday — meant to celebrate the end of self sacrifices made during Lent — included water guns, which are sometimes used by those celebrating Dyngus Day, Ernie Johnson explained.

But there’s an obvious risk in giving this group weaponized water, which Kenny Smith clearly knew because he was hilariously vocal about not wanting any part of this at first — until he eventually picked up a tiny squirt gun. And it didn’t take long for Shaquille O’Neal to start firing once he got his hands on a water gun, which was, of course, aimed directly at Charles Barkley across the desk.

“See, I knew. The worst idea in the world: A squirt gun in the hands of Shaquille O’Neal,” Johnson joked.

Worst, best — it depends on how you look at it.

The second Chuck went in for a water gun to defend himself against his frenemy’s antics, Shaq unleashed a hysterically relentless attack, leaving Barkley absolutely drenched. And he didn’t stop there, later going after the show’s crew off camera too.

Chuck eventually put his water gun down in defeat and threatened to call human resources on Shaq — although he probably shouldn’t mention he did, in fact, threaten to slap Kenny the other day.

The Inside the NBA on TNT postgame shows are always phenomenal television, especially when it’s later in the night and things are going off the rails and threats are being made between Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley.

That happened early Wednesday morning after the Rockets-Warriors game, as Shaq had Ernie Johnson laughing so hard he had to walk away from the table.

They were doing a 3-minute, timed segment and Shaq didn’t like how he didn’t get a chance to get in on time. He blamed Barkley, who started the segment and rambled on, for not leaving him enough time and screwing up the order:

“It’s supposed to be 1, 2, 3… Not 1, 2, back to 1,” Shaq said.

And they all lost it, especially Ernie:

What a show.

Everyone watching loved it:

TNT’s Inside the NBA has been the best sports studio show for years. Whenever you get the big personalities of Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley in a room, it becomes especially memorable television — even when you have Kenny Smith trying to do actual basketball analysis.

During Monday’s broadcast, we saw exactly why Inside the NBA is so much fun. And this time, it didn’t involve Shaq and Barkley threatening to slap each other.

As Smith was breaking down the Sixers-Raptors series, Shaq was glitching out on live TV. Seriously, just keep an eye on Shaq — it will be worth it.

He continued the face when the broadcast returned from commercial.

Was Shaq OK? Did anyone try turning off and restarting his power?

Shaq nearly went full Draymond Green.

And the best part was that Smith seemingly did not notice at all that Shaq was making a weird face during the Sixers analysis. Again, this show is the best.

NBA fans certainly enjoyed whatever Shaq was doing.

So good.

Joel Embiid tried once again to fight through a virus that has hindered his play in at least the last two games of the Sixers’ series against the Toronto Raptors.

And for a second straight game he was a shell of himself, as he finished with just 13 points in the Sixers’ 36-point loss to the Raptors. 36 points!

The Sixers center was seen slowly walking into the arena before the game, obviously feeling the effects of a virus that had him locked in his hotel room for most of the day.

It wasn’t the type of energy that would inspire his teammates to play hard in Game 5. And it wasn’t the type of energy that came even close to impressing Hall of Famers Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley, who crushed him during halftime on TNT.

Shaq went in on how he didn’t want to hear excuses and if Embiid wants to be known for more than just “The Process” then he has to lay everything on the line no matter how he’s feeling.

Barkley, meanwhile, said as a star player you can never show weakness and Embiid has done just this by how he carried himself before the game and how he has talked about his illness the past few days:

They had more after the game, with Shaq saying the Sixers will lose Game 6 at home and mentioned how Barkley said the Sixers don’t have a leader:

Not a good night for Embiid and the Sixers.

Shaquille O’Neal and the entire NBA on TNT crew are a huge reason why the NBA playoffs are so fun.

Their halftime and postgame shows always produce some fantastic moments. They can be getting serious about Joel Embiid’s play or they can be getting Ernie Johnson laughing so hard he has to walk away from the desk.

It has easily been the best studio show in all of sports for many years and it’s not slowing down anytime soon.

Shaq brought the fun during Wednesday night’s games by simply wearing an ascot that had everyone on Twitter both in awe and making jokes about this beautiful thing:

Shaquille O’Neal gets fashion. Remember last week when he wore that ascot that everybody loved?

Well, he really stepped up his game for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals as he busted out a jacket covered in roses for TNTs broadcast.

Shaq dedicated the jacket to Ernie Johnson, saying he’s been blossoming ever since the first day Shaq met Ernie.

The crew is on the road for these games so the fans in Milwaukee got to see the jacket in real life, which must have been something.

Here he is explaining the jacket during the halftime show, which fans loved:

Fans at home, however, had to just enjoy all of its glory on TV and then make some jokes/compliments on Twitter.

TNT’s Inside the NBA is easily the best postgame show in all of sports and the crew has been on an absolute roll during the playoffs this year.

Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith have taken the show on the road for the Eastern Conference finals, which has allowed them to play to a crowd and has only added more fun to the show.

After Tuesday night’s Game 4 in Toronto, fans behind the set started singing the Canadian national anthem following their team’s huge win over the Bucks that evened the series up at 2-2.

And everyone but Charles Barkley, who wanted no part of it, joined in on the singing. It was another perfect moment for this show:

Fans loved it:

The NBA on TNT crew, which is the best pregame/halftime/postgame show in all of sports, is on the road with the Eastern Conference finals, which led to another fun moment during their Game 5 halftime show on Thursday night.

They were inside the arena for the show and the techno music playing on the PA, as well as the lights flashing from wristbands worn by fans, gave the halftime show a whole new look and feel. It also made it hard for the guys to hear each other.

But Shaq, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith seemed to love it, as they did their best “A Night at the Roxbury” impersonations by nodding their heads to the music.

Barkley, however, wanted no part of it:

Fans loved it, though:

Shaquille O’Neal’s nomadic NBA career came to an end nearly a decade ago, but the careers it intersected are still having an impact on the league’s biggest stage, the NBA Finals.

O’Neal played on a lot of teams — six to be exact — and for a very long time. So maybe we shouldn’t be shocked by this stat ESPN dug up after the Raptors clinched a spot in the 2019 NBA Finals, but it’s still pretty darn impressive: For the 36th year in a row, one player who played with O’Neal will participate in the championship series.

That streak goes all the way back to the 1982-83 76ers team that featured Julius Erving and Moses Malone!

The streak started the following year when the Celtics beat the Lakers in the Finals. Greg Kite, who later played with Shaq for two years in Orlando, was on that Boston team. Byron Scott was on Los Angeles and later played one season with Shaq after his move to the Lakers.

Kite and Scott brought the streak up to the late 1980s when Detroit’s Dennis Rodman and Jon Salley, both of whom played with Shaq in Los Angeles, took it from there.

Horris Grant and Byron Scott extended the streak up until the mid-90s when O’Neal made his first Finals appearance with the Magic. From there, Rodman and Ron Harper helped bring it up to the 1998-99 Finals when Jerome Kersey, who played one season with Shaq in Los Angeles, was a member of the Spurs’ first championship team.

Shaq played in five of the next seven finals. The two he did not participate in featured Robert Horry, who made some big shots for Shaq’s Lakers teams. That’s when LeBron and Kobe took over the league, combining for 12 consecutive Finals appearances, with LeBron doing most of the work to extend the streak.

That brings us to this year’s Finals, which pushes the streak to 36 straight years. This will be the 73rd NBA Finals series, meaning at least one of Shaq’s many teammates has played in nearly half of them.

Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal is the big man with a big-money plan to fix the problem that is the Los Angeles Lakers organization right now.

Rather, Shaq has a plan for what he’d do if he had been in Magic Johnson’s shoes as President of Basketball Operations for the franchise before Johnson quit in April. O’Neal said he’d target the biggest stars available in free agency this offseason, beginning with calling Klay Thompson himself (after the Warriors finish the NBA Finals) and offering to make him the highest-paid Laker ever. Shaq’s second and third options for similar phone calls are Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker and New Orleans big man Anthony Davis.

Here is the transcription of what the big man said ton his PodcastOne show “The Big Podcast with Shaq”: “I’ll be like, ‘Klay, your contract is coming up. KD’s contract is coming up. Lots of guys’ contracts are coming up. They can’t pay you what we can pay you. You will be the highest-paid Laker in Laker history. One, I want you to come play with LeBron, and we want to get this thing cracking again. We want you to come live in LA.’

“So, I’m going to call Klay, myself, ‘I’m going to make you the highest-paid Laker in Laker history. Shaq didn’t make this much, Kobe didn’t make this much, Magic didn’t make this much, LeBron doesn’t make this much. We want to help build a team out here with LeBron. What do you say?’ Because if Klay’s going to win this year, he has four. But guess what? Klay’s not the man, he can come to LA and be the man.”