Herschel Walker To Fight On Henderson Vs. Babalu Card, Again? Really?

Added on Nov 06, 2010 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

The first time Herschel Walker fought, it was a great thing for Strikeforce. Everyone was buzzing on what an athlete he was, about his competitive drive, and he got to re-live some of his football accomplishments. He even went on ESPN, the first time Strikeforce was ever mentioned on the network, and the show was a ratings extravaganza when he fought on the Strikeforce Card. No one cared who Greg Nagy was, his opponent, nor should they, to this day he has only fought one other person and still only has one win (1-3.)

In a fight where barely competent heavyweights would have destroyed Nagy in minutes, Walker went 3 unimpressive rounds with him, and pulled off a TKO win. I thought to myself, “Congrats Herschel, you are 40, you had a lot of nay-sayers, you won a fight, you proved a lot of people wrong, and you brought a lot of attention to MMA-Good for you!” I really thought it was the last time we would see him in the cage, and I really thought the post fight interview where he said “I’m going to let my coaches decide if I am ready for another fight,” was just post fight positivity.

Scott Coker, Strikeforce CEO, just gave word that Herschel Walker will fight again on the Dec. 4^th Strikeforce card in St. Louis. Now, when a fighter beats another fighter, they typically take a step up in competition, and I thought poor Walker is going to get murdered by a real heavyweight. My worrisome mind was put to rest when I heard who his opponent was.

A tip of the cap to you if you know who Scott Carson is without looking him up on sherdog’s fight finder. I say this because the last time you most likely saw him was at WEC 1. Thats right, the first WEC! Carson took the last 10 years off, yep a solid decade, to have back surgery and come back to fight. The 40 year old had a ‘comeback’ fight in early June where he was promptly knocked out in under 3 minutes, by some guy you never heard of, in a promotion I didn’t even know existed. Granted, it was his first loss, but I am thinking he better get used to it after his 10 year ‘hiatus.’

Even though i think a swift breeze could probably put away Carson at this point, I don’t fault him one bit for taking this fight. You fight once in ten years, you get the call from the second largest promotion in the US to fight Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker-of course you say yes. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. By gain I don’t mean he will be in line for Alistar Overeem’s heavyweight strap, as I don’t expect him to ever be in the Strikeforce cage again, but he can at least go out and make some cash at local shows as a “premier” fighter.

The first Walker fight I categorized as a freak show fight. We got to see an old guy, who used to be really good at football, test his mettle in the cage. It was sort of interesting, albeit a ratings grab, but intriguing none the less. This fight doesn’t even qualify as that. This is a sideshow as best. He will probably announce he will donate his purse to charity, and good on him, but that doesn’t make it an interesting sporting event.

I almost feel that this fight takes away from what little integrity Coker/Strikeforce has. I will watch the fight, because its my job, but I recommend if you have to go outside for cigarette, or to the beer line, to do so during this fight. Strikeforce will bill this fight as he is fighting a tough opponent with only one loss in ten years, but don’t be bamboozled. I really just see this as Strikeforce setting a pile of money on fire.

These are the confirmed fights for the December 4 Strikeforce event as it stands now:

Main Card

Dan Henderson vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral

Herschel Walker vs. Scott Carson

Paul Daley vs. Scott Smith

Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland

Antonio Silva vs. Valentijn Overeem