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Francis Ngannou is, without a doubt, one of the scariest fighters in the UFC today. 'The Predator' has put his vicious power on display on various occasions inside the octagon.
The knockouts of fighters like Alistair Overeem, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Stipe Miocic and Cain Velasquez come to mind.
However, the Cameroonian has shown that his power is not limited to just KOs.
During an interaction with basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal in 2020, Ngannou lifted the 7 foot 1-inch athlete in the air in a friendly manner.
You can watch a clip of the interaction between Francis Ngannou and 'Shaq' below:
Ngannou and 'Shaq' appear to be on friendly terms. The basketball star congratulated the heavyweight for his championship-winning performance against Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in March 2021.
A few weeks after Ngannou's title win, O'Neal did an interview with ESPN MMA's Brett Okamoto, along with UFC president Dana White. During the interaction, the 49-year-old recalled his meeting with 'The Predator'.
"When I saw him training, I could tell he [Francis Ngannou] wanted to be a champion. That man was working hard, he was hitting like a machine, he was working hard, he was hitting the bag very hard. Then he came and picked me up. Dana knows, no man has ever picked me up. I’m not saying I’m a great MMA fighter but I’m pretty nice with the hands... But he picked me up with ease. I was like, ‘Goddamn, this dude is strong!’ So when he fought the other day, I was like, ‘I gotta watch him.’ And I knew coming in, he was in great shape, he was hitting hard and he was determined. This was something that he wanted."
Catch ESPN MMA's full interview with Shaquille O'Neal's below:
Shaquille O'Neal reveals what he would do if he got into an altercation with Francis Ngannou
During his interview with Okamoto, 'Shaq' talked about the gameplan he'd emply if things turned sour with Francis Ngannou during a basketball match.
"Well, I gotta defend myself. I’m not saying I wanna fight the guy. Listen, the thing about me is I’ve always been smart. I’m not a fighter. You don’t step into this guy’s world and start talking smack unless you can defend it. Now, if he comes at me on my court, I got some rules. I got a couple of elbows that could like… A basketball court is much bigger than a ring, so I gonna try to get the first one. Then I just gotta split until Dana breaks it up."
Ngannou is currently scheduled to face former teammate Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in a UFC heavyweight title unification bout.
