Shaq makes 2m UFC star look like a kid

It’s the internet’s favourite tradition — ribbing people for looking tiny next to Shaq — and even the scariest man in the UFC couldn’t escape looking tiny.

Often touted as the scariest man in the UFC, Cameroonian heavyweight Francis Ngannou is a fearsome fight to behold.

That is, until he stands next to Shaq.

Getting a hilarious “look how short I am” photo next to the NBA’s biggest man has become somewhat of an internet tradition. Everyone from Jack Nicholson to Jimmy Fallon has been subjected to the meme.

On Friday, the 1.96m tall Ngannou joined the club of blokes looking like children next to Shaq after meeting the NBA icon at the UFC Performance Institute.

“I think this is the very first time that somebody has made me look so little,” Ngannou said.

Walking in the @UFCPI and ran into a monster and almost ran away, then I realized it was @SHAQ. I think this is the very first time that somebody has made me look so little. pic.twitter.com/ywf0DHbaJJ

— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) June 13, 2019

That’s a mind boggling picture 😂

— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) June 13, 2019

Ngannou shot back to relevance after scoring a stunning 26 second knockout of former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez in Phoenix earlier in the year. The savage performance giving fans reason to believe their freak of nature is the dominant, unstoppable force many believed he was until one of the most baffling fall from graces in MMA.

Sold as the man with the world-record 96 horsepower punch that contained the same force of being his by a Ford Escort at full speed or a sledgehammer being swung overhead, Ngannou was famously plucked to fight for the belt against Stipe Miocic and was completely outclassed.

His next fight against Derrick Lewis was arguable the worst heavyweight fight ever held in the UFC. Neither fighter made a move. Ngannou didn’t throw a punch in the first three minutes. It had the lowest recorded number of strikes thrown in any three-round UFC heavyweight fight.

He is now ranked second in the UFC’s heavyweight standings behind Miocic.