Making a Case for Herschel Walker in Strikeforce: Why He's Not as Bad as You Think

Although his opponent has not yet been revealed at the time of this article, it has been confirmed that football legend Herschel Walker will once again step inside the Strikeforce cage at the December 4 Strikeforce: “Henderson vs. Babalu 2” event. Walker’s first foray into Mixed Martial Arts caused quite a stir and got a lot of media attention, although many MMA purists decried Strikeforce for putting on a “freakshow” fight and declared Walker a failure waiting to happen. Even after a successful performance and an entertaining debut, some fans and insiders are still soundly against the idea of Herschel Walker competing in MMA entirely and Strikeforce in particular. And I have to tell you, fans and friends…I am not one of those people, and in fact, I think their argument is baseless as well as pointless. Here’s why.

The only thing the opposing side has in their favor is that Walker would not have had as much press coverage if he was just another rookie. But really, isn’t that the point of a “freakshow” fight? It’s a guilty pleasure through and through, but it makes for quite the spectacle. Even better, Walker actually looked like he knew a thing or two when he got in the cage. He was as green as every other rookie, but he had his moments. Walker took this seriously and performed far better than I ever thought he would.

That’s one of the reasons Walker has earned my respect- this isn’t a quick buck for him. If he wanted a quick buck, he should have gone the Jose Canseco route and not trained anything with anyone and just shown up to the event with his girlfriend. Canseco’s entrance into MMA was a joke that even he was in on. For Walker, he turned that cynicism into motivation.

Also, consider the following: if you train at the American Kickboxing Academy, which Walker does, you’re not a joke. This is a camp that’s given us Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Cain Velasquez, and a host of other UFC/MMA mainstays. Try calling them a joke and you’ll be the one laughed at. And I know the obvious retort is “just because he trains with them doesn’t mean he’s as good as them”. To which I say: thank you, Captain Obvious. Of course Walker isn’t and never will be as good as AKA’s best. But he’s training with them, he’s learning from them, he’s willing to put forth the time and effort it takes to not get kicked out of one of the most prestigious MMA training camps in the United States. If Herschel Walker was a joke and didn’t take this seriously, AKA would want nothing to do with him.

Another thing that boggles my mind is why so many detractors seem to have a personal and not just a philosophical problem with Walker’s foray into MMA. The man is as humble as can be, he respects the sport to an incredible degree. Remember, this is a man that criticized the crowd that was on hand for his debut for booing, because he had so much respect for what goes on inside of the cage. Walker may never be a great Mixed Martial Artist, but he is a great person.

So once again Herschel Walker is willing to put forth the effort in training, once more he’s willing to take a hit just for the fun of it, once more he’s willing to pursue a new sport simply because he is and always will be a very competitive athlete. He’ll never wear gold and I will be shocked if his MMA career ever enters double digits, but as it stands, I’m actually looking forward to Herschel Walker’s next fight.

And what about you, fans and friends? What do you think the future holds for the NFL and college football great?