"At some point, the student has to kill the master."
Shaquille O'Neal gave an AWESOME (and violent!) pump-up speech to rising UFC star Gillian Robertson ahead of her scrap this weekend ... and, yeah, someone tell her opponent to watch out!!!
Shaq's pep talk all went down at his mansion in Atlanta ... when famous MMA coach Din Thomas reintroduced the Big Diesel to 25-year-old Robertson before her tilt with Taila Santos in Vegas on Saturday.
O'Neal was asked to give her some advice -- after all, Robertson is a considered by some to be an underdog in the fight and is still trying to make her way up the women's flyweight division -- and the NBA legend sure delivered.