Scott Carson, Herschel Walker's Next Opponent, Fires Back at Internet "Keyboard Warriors"

The surging strikeforce promotion made some waves recently when they announced that football legend Herschel Walker would be fighting at the upcoming Strikeforce: “Henderson vs. Babalu” event. This will be Walker’s second fight in the organization, his first whipped up a decent media frenzy and had MMA fans divided on whether or not Walker was a “freak show” fighter. Walker proved a lot of people wrong (including me, to be honest) when he put on a pretty good performance in his debut, beating unheralded unknown Greg Nagy. Once again Strikeforce has given Walker another unheralded unknown in the form of Scott Carson, but Walker’s opponent recently took the time to boldly address MMA fans and cynics. In fact, Carson outright lashed back at the critics questioning his abilities.

The following comes from an official Strikeforce news post, where Carson said the following: “I’m a lot better fighter than the one I’ve been reading about on the Internet… You’d think I was nothing going off what has been written by some of these keyboard warriors…  It’s a lot easier to sit in front of a computer and talk (stuff) than it is to actually fight… I’m pretty well-rounded with good standup and wrestling… I plan to shut up all the critics, each and every one of them. Let them write something factual after they’ve seen me on Dec. 4… I’m training every day. But the fact that some people aren’t giving me a chance is only giving me extra motivation. This is going to be a great fight.’’

As one of those devout keyboard warriors, allow me to put away the sword and shield and speak in earnest for a moment. I think Carson may have a point, a lot of the time MMA fans are very quick to judge. I personally have no idea who Scott Carson is, and I think that’s his main problem when going up against Walker. He’s a name that virtually no one knows anything about, and a lot of fans are quick to criticize. Me, I’m willing to give Carson the benefit of the doubt.

Who can say who will win a fight, honestly? 2010 has proven that nothing is impossible and that everyone can be beaten. Just because no one has heard of Scott Carson doesn’t mean that Scott Carson is a bad fighter or that Herschel Walker will run right through him. All it means is that Herschel Walker will fight Scott Carson. I’ll form my opinion on Scott Carson when he steps into the cage, like I do all the fighters I haven’t heard of.

Plus, and I don’t want to name names or call anyone out, but I’ve always felt that if you criticize just to criticize, if you call out somebody just to get your name out there, you’re really just milking your audience and you’re not a truly legitimate journalist or opinion columnist. Love me or hate me, I mean everything I say and I’ll stand by every single one of my opinions, right or wrong. My opinions have caused me to eat a fair share of humble pie in my day, but I’ve never ran from it, and I’ve never regretted it.

So, what’s my opinion on Scott Carson? As I said before, I honestly don’t have one. So I’m not going to take a firm stance. I will say this, though. Carson is somewhat justified in lashing out at the critics who are so quick to judge, but this is an “it is what it is” situation. What did Carson expect, honestly? No one knows who he is, and he’s facing someone with a decent name, lots of crossover appeal, and who proved that he’s taking the fight game seriously. Of course people will be quick to side with him over someone they’ve never heard of. I can certainly empathize with Carson having some hurt feelings, but at the end of the day? Welcome to the internet, Scott Carson. Enjoy your stay.

And what about you, fans and friends? What do you make of Scott Carson and his recent statements?