Herschel Walker: Football, MMA, and the Future…
By Curtis Clontz on Sep 25, 2009
In the past month, Strikeforce has been trying to stand up, and make sure that no one forgets about them. The first thing they did was sign one of the most sought after free agents ever in Antwain Britt. After this news broke they announced more details about the upcoming Fedor fight. Their news that seemed to be the weirdest was the announcement that long time football superstar Herschel Walker will be fighting for them. You may have heard about him. He is arguably the best college football player of ALL TIME… More about him and what he can do for the sport after the jump.
If you were to walk down the streets of Athens Georgia and ask ten people who Herschel Walker is, they will smile and tell you their favorite story about him. They won’t tell you that he was the arguably the greatest, they will say he WAS THE greatest. Forrest Griffin is also from the area. I can’t promise 10 people could tell you who he is…
Throughout his tenure as a baller for the ‘Dawgs, he did more than just score and rack up yards, he dominated! Walker won the coveted Heismann twice.
In the NFL Herschel was a journeyman and is a part of one of the worst trades in league history. He was traded from the Cowboys to the Vikings for five players and six draft picks. One of those picks turned out to be another decent running back by the name of Emmit Smith.
Herschel Walker is no stranger to the sport. He is not your typical old football guy who wants to have a little fun. Hershel has actually been on Inside MMA and talked about doing an MMA reality show with Jose Conseco, but that doesn’t seem to be happening (especially now).
As you could imagine, Walker will bring a very interesting celebrity with him to the organization. Even if he is an old man, his name will sell. People will tune in just to see what this pure athlete can do.
Herschel Walker not only brings an interesting fame with him into the fights, he very well may be resetting the bar of athleticism in the entire sport of MMA. Name another that participated in the Bobsled at the Olympics, almost ran track in the Olympics, is a football legend, and fights MMA…You can’t.
Athletes such as Walker are not in the sport (yet). Sure, fighters such as GSP are good athletes but throughout the sport you will not find someone as athletic as a Reggie Bush, Kobe Bryant, or Alex Rodriguez.
The move to MMA is very late for Walker. He is well beyond his football days, and the move seems to be more of a mid-life crisis than a legit goal, but it could open the doors for more athletes in the future. Each year and each television that tunes into TUF, Unleashed, and re-runs of MMA shows we will get new fans. With that will come the increased motivation to become a cagefighter.
I am not talking about the typical tough guy at the bar, I am talking about legit mixed martial artists. It is a matter of time befor top athletes train in two or three disciplines for ten years, then turn pro when they turn 18. Could you imagine what Lebron James would do in the heavyweight division is he boxed, did jits, and wrestled since he could walk instead of playing basketball? He is a million times more athletic than anyone that has ever stepped foot into a Strikeforce or UFC fight.
Not everyone agrees with Strikeforce’s idea to sign Walker, but I for one am for it. He may only have a few fights but his exposure will be great for the sport!
Picture from Deadspin.com
Filed Under: MMA
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Herschel was in his day perhaps the best athlete on the football field. He has always been into martial arts and often cited it has the best way he kept in shape for football. I believe he also did ballet at one point. Even at 47 I am sure he’s in tremendous shape (he supposedly does over 1000 push ups and situps a day). It will be interesting.
Oh in case you have never seen him play here is a highlight reel (and there is a ton more!)
If someone would have told me 6 months ago that at some local MMA show they were going to let a 47 year old man with a serious mental disorder fight in MMA I would have been very disappointed in whoever was allowing this to happen.
So I’m not sure why I should feel any different about it happening now? Is it because his name is Herschel Walker?
His fights would be interesting to watch. He is genetic specimen, and although he is old, he trained martial arts long time, he is strong so he has decent chances to be average fighter at least.
As much as I love H.W.. I must correct you on one thing. He only won the Hiesman once. The only player to win it twice was from Ohio State. He should have won it his freshman year and his sophmore years. Up until Tim Tebow though, the only people to win it were upper classman. At least to my knowledge.
Dan, good catch. The only player to win two Heisman’s was Archie Griffin, who could have won the Heisman three times (his sophemore year, in terms of yardage, was better than his senior year).
One of the weirdest things about Griffin, to me, was that the guy ended up going 24th. Of course, the first pick that year was Lee Roy Selmon, a future hall-of-famer. Jackie Slater and Harry Carson went pro that year, too. Good year for the big men, I guess.