What martial arts does Shaquille O’neal know?

Shaquille O’neal is best known for his NBA career and at over 7 feet tall, it’s understandable why this is the case. Not only this but he’s also known for his wide stature and strength, which has promoted commentators over the years to ponder how dangerous he would be in a fight. Of course, fighting a completely untrained Shaquille O’neal would not be fun for anyone due to his sheer size and power.

However, when you equip him with martial arts skills, he then becomes much more intimidating. Thankfully, it turns out that Shaquille O’neal is a genuinely nice guy, but you wouldn’t want to cross him either. Here’s a list of martial arts skills that may surprise you when thinking about Shaq.

Does Shaquille O’neal know Kung Fu?

You may remember the game ‘Shaq Fu’ which was on the SEGA back in 1994. This featured a young Shaq beating up villains by using his Kung Fu fighting skills. As a result, this sparked intrigue as to whether Shaq actually trained Kung Fu. After doing some research, it looks as though he doesn’t train Kung Fu, nor has he ever.

It looks as though the game’s title and story were developed purely for marketing purposes and that Shaq isn’t known to have trained the art. Whilst Shaq may have posed in a traditional Kung Fu outfit and pulled a Kung Fu stance on the front cover, that’s about it as far as his Kung Fu training goes.

Shaquille O’neal knows Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Shaquille O’neal has been known to train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu sporadically and due to weighing over 300lbs, is very dominant on the ground. Obviously, his athletic background in basketball doesn’t hurt either and he doesn’t hide behind his physical attributes. In the video below, Shaq makes swift work of several colored belts in BJJ. For reference, these guys will have been training for around 5 years or so. Nonetheless, it’s no match for Shaq who can tear through them quickly and knows how to apply a rear naked choke.

In the same video, he also beats a BJJ black belt who has probably put in at least 10 years of training. This goes against the notion of ‘size doesn’t matter’ because in the land of Shaq, it clearly does. He probably isn’t a black belt in BJJ due to his busy lifestyle. However, he clearly knows enough to beat up black belts which says it all. In short, if Shaq gets you on the ground, you’re in deep trouble. O’Neal was trained at Johnathan Burke’s Gracie gym.

Shaquille O’neal knows boxing

In a bizarre twist during his career, Shaq went on to fight Oscar De La Hoya in an exhibition boxing match. He has also fought the likes of Shane Moseley too. In his 2009 bout vs De La Hoya – Shaq went on to lose by decision and even though he outweighed his 5’10 opponent, the speed and technique of the boxer simply proved too much. Often during the fight, O’neal looked still and his movement was too slow, both offensive and defensive. His striking technique also looked weak as there looked to be little power in his jabs considering his size.

However, there may be a reason behind this. Surely even with poor technique, the sheer size of Shaq would be enough? Nearly 10 years later in 2018, O’neal stated that he went light on De La Hoya and softened his punches. Was this the case? It’s very possible but it’s also true that O’neal tired towards the end of the fight, which was understandable because of his size.

Remember though, this was De La Hoya at his peak and Shaq can still outbox most regular people due to his power. He was also trained by Freddy Roach which shows his coaching team was of great pedigree.

Shaquille O’neal knows MMA

Interestingly, Shaq contributes MMA training to one of the reasons he performed so well in the NBA, as it improved his athleticism. MMA training is big on strength and conditioning too, which would have surely helped out the giant on the courts. Over the years, he has been seen training with the likes of Nick Diaz and UFC Champion Francis Ngannou. Bizarrely, Shaq still dwarfed Ngannou in size, but in one video, Ngannou easily lifted up Shaq with a high crotch lift.

MMA is something that O’neal has trained sporadically throughout the years alongside BJJ and is one of the reasons why he’s good at grappling and striking. Obviously, he could never go all in during training whilst playing basketball full time. Nonetheless, after his retirement from the NBA, Shaq has dedicated more time to learning MMA and it seems to be a genuine hobby of his.

So, can you call Shaquille O’neal a martial artist?

Overall, it would be unfair to say that O’neal wasn’t a martial artist due to his time spent training various disciplines. Arguably, his best attribute is his grappling and he’s clearly got an effective style of BJJ. This may be because BJJ allows bigger guys time to work where speed can be replaced with pressure, so this martial art is perfectly suited for Shaq.

Of course, he’s also well versed in MMA, and whilst he won’t have trained this nor BJJ to a professional level, he’s still got clear skills. Besides, there’s always the size factor with Shaq which would make him a very hard opponent. Regardless, it would also be cruel to say that O’neal is always reliant on size, as he’s clearly put the work in regarding his training.

Elsewhere, he has trained in boxing at times both for TV fights and whilst doing MMA. However, this is arguably his weakest skill due to his body type not being as suited towards striking. It should also be noted that he has also dabbled in pro wrestling as well over the years. Whilst this may not be a true martial art, it still shows his body is in good shape and will help with his weight distribution and movements.

In conclusion, Shaquille O’neal can be considered a decent martial artist. His levels aren’t at a professional grade but nonetheless, he does know some stuff and combined with his sheer size would be a very difficult person to fight.

If you’d like to learn more about Shaquille O’neals life then check out his book here.