NBA superstar, Miami police officer, and marginal actor, Shaquille O’Neal has decided to put his energies in to yet another unique endeavour, MMA. Shaq told ABC News that he has been training mixed martial arts during the NBA off-season (which ABC referred to “one of the most violent of sports — Ultimate Fighting”) in order to keep in shape.

“I’ve been doing a lot of fighting, a lot of swimming, a lot of hunting and a lot of school work and a lot of reading,” O’Neal told reporters at the Heat’s pre-training camp media day.

Asked what he meant by fighting, O’Neal said: “UFC fighting, Ultimate Fighting, yeah, I’m serious. Every day. You have headgear and so on, it is basically like boxing with wrestling rules. I’m a fan of the sport. I started doing it and then some guys challenged me.”

Of course he’ll never become a competitive fighter, but can you imagine someone with his size, strength, and athleticism well trained in MMA? 

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 | File under Interview Recaps, News