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Shaquille O’Neal has Vitor Belfort to thank for his lifetime love affair with MMA.

One of the greatest basketball players ever and among the biggest media personalities on the planet, Shaq, is also a huge MMA fan. “The Big Aristotle” started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and kickboxing back in 2000 and regularly attends UFC events. His passion for the sport even led to O’Neal becoming an unlockable character in UFC Undisputed 2010, and apparently it all started thanks to a chance encounter with Belfort.

“We’re at training camp in Hawaii, and I’m walking down the street, and a motherf***** grabs me, and he’s strong as f*ck,” O’Neal said on the Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo podcast. “I’m thinking, ‘Oh shit, it’s about to go down.’ And I turn around and we square up, and Vitor Belfort goes like this [raises hands] ‘No, no, no, man! I’m a fan of yours.’ I think this was UFC 1. Real talk. Motherf*cker just grabs me so I’m getting ready to square up, ‘No, no, no! I’m just a fan!’ and he gave me tickets to his fight. And he beat some dude who had on some overalls. …

“The motherf*cker grabbed me in the middle of the street. So in my mind, I’m about to f*** him up, because he’s little. But he was nice. ‘No, no, no. My friend, my friend. I fight in the UFC. We have a fight.’ ‘Motherf*cker what time?’ We didn’t have shit to do. He beat some 7-foot dude in some overalls, and I had never seen a sport like that. So I’ve been a fan ever since.”

Shaq was mistaken as Belfort did not compete at UFC 1, but the bout in question was Belfort’s first professional contest: a 12-second knockout of Jon Hess as SuperBrawl 2 in 1996. At that time the UFC had only held 11 events and the modern sport of MMA was still very much in its nascent stages, making Shaq one of the earliest fans of it. And from that fandom, O’Neal says he maintained a friendship with the man who introduced him to the sport, even telling a story about how Belfort once put his MMA skills to use for Shaq.

“He knocked somebody out for me one time,” O’Neal said. “Dude was talking crazy and Vitor just came out of nowhere, BING BING. I’m looking at the dude on the floor and I’m like, ‘Vitor, go.’ ‘No man! Duh duh duh.’ ‘Motherf*cker get out of here! Go. I got it.’ Then the cops come [shrugs]. Yeah.”

Belfort would go on to be a one-time UFC light heavyweight champion and one of the most popular fighters in MMA history. Meanwhile, O’Neal at one point wanted to try his hand in the cage, but he never ultimately did. Instead, Shaq stayed focused on his basketball career, and then his other business endeavors, and currently serves as Reebok’s President of Basketball.

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Touted as a massive threat at the strawweight limit amid her triumphant return to action, unbeaten contender, Tatiana Suarez has vowed to submit division champion, Zhang Weili in a future championship clash – calling for a slot on the UFC 306 card in September at the Las Vegas Sphere.

Suarez, the current number one ranked strawweight contender and victor of The Ultimate Fighter 23, turned in her seventh consecutive victory under the promotion’s banner back in August of last year at UFC Fight Night Nashville, turning in a stunning guillotine choke submission win over former division champion, Jessica Andrade.

The victory came as Suarez’s second of the year, following a prior submission success against Montana De La Rosa in February – which marked her first outing inside the Octagon in over four year following a torrid run of consecutive injury setbacks.

And with a firm eye on this month’s proceedings at UFC 300, Suarez watched on as the above-mentioned, Weili landed a one-sided decision win over compatriot, Yan Xiaonan in the pair’s historic title affair as part of the monumental card. 

Tatiana Suarez eyes UFC 306 title fight with Zhang Weili

Forced from a potential title-eliminator against another former title challenger, Amanda Lemos back in February at UFC 298, Suarez insists she’s ready for a championship chase against the incumbent, Weili – specifically at UFC 306 during Mexican Independence Day weekend.

“They need someone to fight for the title, and why not somebody who’s undefeated, has an amazing story, strong grappler, and something that she (Zhang Weili) really hasn’t faced yet?” Tatiana Suarez told ESPN. “A tall, long, rangy person that actually has very good Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling – something that she’s really developed, and now she’s beating everybody with her wrestling.”

“I think I get a submission, 100 percent,” Tatiana Suarez explained. “I think I will sub her – either a submission or a TKO. I heard they’re [the UFC] going to China in August, but that’s not a pay-per-view card. So, I don’t know if maybe in September at The Sphere – that’d be amazing, especially because I am Mexican, and that’d be a good fight to have.” 

Who wins in a future title showdown: Zhang Weili or Tatiana Suarez?

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Former UFC lightweight title challenger and welterweight fan favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone was rushed into surgery earlier this week after suffering an injury while practicing riding a bull.  

Cerrone was schedule to attempt to ride Dana White’s bull “Twisted Steel” at Professional Bull Riders (PBR) “Unleash The Beast” event on May 18 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.  Instead, Cerrone will be recovering from surgery.  

“As y’all know I was set to ride Dana White’s ‘Twisted Steel’ at the PBR World Finals on May 18,” Cerrone wrote on Instagram. “I was just rushed into surgery with 100-percent biceps tear off the bone! Guess you mess with the bull you sometimes get the horns. This is not the end. I will rehab and get back after it.”

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In a followup post, Cerrone explained that UFC CEO Dana White lined him up with a surgeon who specializes in full bicep tears.  

‘Well if y’all want to see what happened to the one arm man, this is it. Now if you’re thinkin this is it, and ol’ cowboy is down and out— no sir. @danawhite hooked me up with one of the best surgeons for a full bicep tear and give it six-eight weeks and with help from @transcendHrt and I’ll be back at it,” Cerrone wrote. 

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 White released a statement about Cerrone’s injury and thought “Cowboy” trying to ride his bull was probably not the best idea from the beginning.  

“I thought this was a bad idea for Cowboy from the start,” White said in a statement provided to MMAmania.com. “Twisted Steel is the nastiest bull in the PBR. He’s bucked 90-percent of his riders. Let’s leave it to the pros at the PBR World Finals in Arlington.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Tatsuro Taira puts his unbeaten record on the line against a fellow flyweight prospect.

Taira’s management announced Thursday that he is set to face Joshua Van (10-1) at UFC 302 on June 1 in Newark, N.J. The two fighters share the same representation.

This marks an opponent change for Van, who was originally scheduled to fight Sumudaerji. The Chinese standout withdrew from the contest for undisclosed reasons.

Taira also sees a change in his schedule after losing opponent Tim Elliott to an undisclosed injury. He was expected to fight Elliott at a UFC Fight Night event on May 18.

The new matchup pits two of the 125-pound division’s brightest prospects against one another. Taira is yet to lose in 15 pro bouts, including a perfect 5-0 mark in the UFC. In his most recent outing, the 24-year-old scored a second-round TKO victory over Carlos Hernandez.

Van, 22, is 3-0 to start his UFC career. He defeated Felipe Bunes by second-round TKO this past January to follow up on decision wins over Kevin Borjas and Zhalgas Zhumagulov.

UFC 302 is headlined by a title fight between lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier. Middleweight contenders Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa square off in the co-main event.

See the updated UFC 302 lineup below (bout order still to be finalized):

Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier

Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa

Jailton Almeida vs. Alexandr Romanov

Niko Price vs. Alex Morono

Anthony Hernandez vs. Roman Dolidze

Grant Dawson vs. Joe Solecki

Randy Brown vs. Elizeu Zaleski

Phil Rowe vs. Jake Matthews

Mickey Gall vs. Bassil Hafez

Cesar Almeida vs. Roman Kopylov

Hyun Sung Park vs. Andre Lima

Ailin Perez vs. Joselyne Edward

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Michael Bisping says he would come out of retirement to cap off his trilogy with Luke Rockhold.

Rockhold recently knocked out Joe Schilling in the third round at Karate Combat 45, which Bisping was doing a livestream event for on his YouTube channel. A few days later, Bisping addressed some fans asking him about doing a third fight with Rockhold to figure out who the better man is, once and for all.

“Luke Rockhold, I was doing a live to [his fight], and everyone was like, ‘You’ve got to do the trilogy,’” Bisping said on Believe You Me. “I’ll do Karate Combat against Luke Rockhold. I’ll do it.

“I’ll do it. I will have a trilogy with Luke Rockhold in Karate Combat. I would love to.”

In their first meeting, Rockhold stopped Bisping with a guillotine choke in just under six minutes at UFC Fight Night 55 in November 2014. They would run it back less than two years later when Rockhold defended the UFC middleweight title against Bisping — who stepped in on short notice as an injury replacement for Chris Weidman — in the main event of UFC 199.

After a fight week full of trash talk, Bisping delivered the performance of a lifetime, shocking Rockhold, and the MMA community as a massive underdog and captured the title via first-round TKO.

The personal rivalry between Bisping and Rockhold has certainly changed over the years, but the competitive rivalry still seems to be there for Bisping. As his co-host Anthony Smith continued to push for the idea of the fight coming to fruition, the now UFC color commentator doubled down on making it happen.

“This has gotten momentum a bit too quickly, let me just see my hip doctor first,” Bisping said. “I’m joking, [but] I’d do it. 100 percent, I would. … “Yeah, well done to Luke [against Schilling]. Fair play, man, fair play.”

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Ian Machado Garry is determined to fight former three-time title challenger Colby Covington at UFC 303 on June 29th in Las Vegas.  “The Future” is growing impatient with “Chaos,” and urged Covington to ‘sign the contract.’  

“Don’t be a coward sign the contract,” Garry wrote on social media tagging Covington.  Accompanying the comment was a video.  

“Everybody knows who my next fight is.  Everybody knows what it is.  It’s no secret,” Garry said in the video.  “All I’m waiting on, all we need is Colby to sign the f**king contract and say yes.  Let’s go Colby.  Can’t talk all that sh*t and not back it up.”  

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Garry and Covington have hurled insults back and forth on social media for months, called each other out, and Covington has gone so far as to insult Garry’s wife with some pretty disrespectful allegations.  It’s a grudge match at his point.  

Garry is undefeated (14-0) and is currently ranked inside the Top 10 at seventh. Covington, a perennial contender, is ranked fourth in the weight class. Covington (17-4) lost to champion Leon Edwards in his last outing and has lost three of his last five fights. 

UFC 303 takes place at T-Mobile Arena during International Fight Week.  The event is headlined by the return of former two-division champion Conor McGregor taking on lightweight contender Michael Chandler.  Garry is confident that he’ll be facing Covington in the co-main event.  

“When I read the news and see something ain’t right – I’ll be co-main mark my words #UFC303 @ufc,” he wrote on Instagram.  

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