All the questions surrounding former NFL star Herschel Walker’s entrance into the world of competitive mixed martial arts center on why.
Why, at 47 years of age, is he striking out on a new sports endeavor? Why something as complex as mixed martial arts? Why something as brutal as mixed martial arts?
Why, why, why?
Well... the former Olympian has answers.
Walker knows, already fighting Father Time, the window is closing. Forty may be the new 30, but no man defies age eternally.
“I’m at a age, it ain’t like I’m gonna be doing this forever. And it ain’t like I’m gonna be winning a belt anytime soon, because that’s not gonna happen. But I know I can compete, and can compete well,” he said on a recent press junket in New York City.
Competing is the defining factor in all of Walker’s answers, in his life, and he’s good at it, at every level.
He was the valedictorian of his high school class and led his football team to a state championship. In college, he helped the Georgia Bulldogs win the national championship and won the 1982 Heisman Trophy as the nation’s top collegiate football player.
Moving on to the pros, Walker set records in the short-lived United States Football League before moving on to the National Football League (NFL) where he was a back-to-back Pro Bowl player.
He nearly made the Olympics as a sprinter, and did make it as part of a two-man bobsled team, finishing seventh at the 1992 Winter Olympics.
Mixed martial arts is his latest conquest following a lifelong love affair. He began watching the sport as a fan, like most others, more than 15 years ago when Royce Gracie was changing everyone’s conception of combat.
“I’ve been in martial arts for years,” said the Tae Kwon Do sixth degree black belt. “I think a lot of people are gonna be very impressed with my ground game. I think people are gonna be impressed with my MMA ability. This is not something that I’ve taken lightly, (it’s) something that I’ve been training at, something that I’ve loved for a long time.”
It’s that knowing that MMA is more than a guy knocking heads off, knowing that the game has moved on from Gracie’s grappling dominance. It’s the chess-like strategy of the sport and wanting to expose what appeals so much to him to the rest of the world that drives Walker to compete.
He wants people to see what he sees, that this is not a human cockfight.
“I want people to know that it’s not this terrible, terrible sport, that these guys are these brutes. These guys are very intelligent,” said Walker. “I think people think this sport is brutal because of the blood, but I think it’s safer than football or boxing right now.”
He’s an active promoter, not someone to sit on the sidelines and prophesize. That’s a large part of his decision to get in the cage and fight for Strikeforce on Jan. 30 in Florida. And Walker’s not afraid to use his star power to further his cause.
“It’s gonna make people become aware, gonna make people start watching it just to see what I’m gonna do. That’s the reason why I gotta do it the right way,” he said. “That’s the reason why I gotta be a fighter. I can’t be a Jose Canseco. I gotta be a true MMA fighter. I can’t go into the ring as a gimmick, as a circus.
“I want to show people that this is a great sport. I think it should be an Olympic sport.”
Why, at 47 years of age, is he striking out on a new sports endeavor? Why something as complex as mixed martial arts? Why something as brutal as mixed martial arts?
Why, why, why?
Well... the former Olympian has answers.
Walker knows, already fighting Father Time, the window is closing. Forty may be the new 30, but no man defies age eternally.
“I’m at a age, it ain’t like I’m gonna be doing this forever. And it ain’t like I’m gonna be winning a belt anytime soon, because that’s not gonna happen. But I know I can compete, and can compete well,” he said on a recent press junket in New York City.
Competing is the defining factor in all of Walker’s answers, in his life, and he’s good at it, at every level.
He was the valedictorian of his high school class and led his football team to a state championship. In college, he helped the Georgia Bulldogs win the national championship and won the 1982 Heisman Trophy as the nation’s top collegiate football player.
Moving on to the pros, Walker set records in the short-lived United States Football League before moving on to the National Football League (NFL) where he was a back-to-back Pro Bowl player.
He nearly made the Olympics as a sprinter, and did make it as part of a two-man bobsled team, finishing seventh at the 1992 Winter Olympics.
Mixed martial arts is his latest conquest following a lifelong love affair. He began watching the sport as a fan, like most others, more than 15 years ago when Royce Gracie was changing everyone’s conception of combat.
“I’ve been in martial arts for years,” said the Tae Kwon Do sixth degree black belt. “I think a lot of people are gonna be very impressed with my ground game. I think people are gonna be impressed with my MMA ability. This is not something that I’ve taken lightly, (it’s) something that I’ve been training at, something that I’ve loved for a long time.”
It’s that knowing that MMA is more than a guy knocking heads off, knowing that the game has moved on from Gracie’s grappling dominance. It’s the chess-like strategy of the sport and wanting to expose what appeals so much to him to the rest of the world that drives Walker to compete.
He wants people to see what he sees, that this is not a human cockfight.
“I want people to know that it’s not this terrible, terrible sport, that these guys are these brutes. These guys are very intelligent,” said Walker. “I think people think this sport is brutal because of the blood, but I think it’s safer than football or boxing right now.”
He’s an active promoter, not someone to sit on the sidelines and prophesize. That’s a large part of his decision to get in the cage and fight for Strikeforce on Jan. 30 in Florida. And Walker’s not afraid to use his star power to further his cause.
“It’s gonna make people become aware, gonna make people start watching it just to see what I’m gonna do. That’s the reason why I gotta do it the right way,” he said. “That’s the reason why I gotta be a fighter. I can’t be a Jose Canseco. I gotta be a true MMA fighter. I can’t go into the ring as a gimmick, as a circus.
“I want to show people that this is a great sport. I think it should be an Olympic sport.”
