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The former NFL star who has signed with the Strikeforce promotion is the NCAA Football Hall Of Fame Member and NCAA Heisman Trophy winner, Herschel Walker. Herschel Walker, for those who don’t know, played NCAA Football at the University Of Georgia and NFL Football with the Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles.
Herschel Walker does have experience in the combat sports field, as he attained a sixth degree black belt in tae kwon do and has made appearances on HDNet’s Inside MMA program. Herschel Walker was set to take part in an MMA reality show with other notable athletes like Jose Canseco, but the show never came to fruition after several attempts to get picked up by television stations.
The relationship between Herschel Walker and Strikeforce began around the time of the Strikeforce: Carano vs. Santos event this past Summer. Herschel Walker was shown in the crowd between fights and a few weeks later, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said that the NFL great was signed to a contract. Shortly after signing the contract, Herschel Walker immediately dove into a training camp with American Kickboxing Academy.
Recently, in an interview with ESPN, Herschel Walker stated that he will be ready for MMA competition in December 2009 or early 2010. If Herschel Walker is accurate in his statement, that would indicate that he could compete in the December Strikeforce Challengers event that will be taking place in San Jose, California.
People could make the argument that the age of Herschel Walker shouldn’t matter when he steps into the cage, with the likes of Randy Couture still competing in the UFC. The counterpoint to that argument is that fighters like Randy Couture have been competing for years in MMA as the continue to get older, while Herschel Walker is an older person making his MMA debut.
The eventual debut of Herschel Walker in Strikeforce also presents a potentially huge issue for Strikeforce, which is the possible first opponent for the NFL great. There is no way that Strikeforce could put Herschel Walker in the cage with the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum or Mike Kyle, so while Herschel Walker will be bringing his big name personality into the fight, his opponent will most likely be a unknown fighter.
The age issue will become a larger issue in the next year or so for Strikeforce, because it will be harder and harder to push a nearly fifty year old man in Herschel Walker as a potentially top fighter in a promotion that features some of the best fighters in mixed martial arts, most of whom are half the age of NCAA Hall Of Fame Member Herschel Walker.
Either way, in the very near future, Herschel Walker will be making his professional MMA debut for Strikeforce and the fight will determine if Strikeforce was vindicated for signing the aging football player or vilified for signing the aging NFL star.
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
