12 Rounds with Herschel Walker
Whether you think former NFL star Herschel Walker's debut as a mixed martial arts fighter is a legitimate athletic pursuit or a shameless publicity stunt, you have to admire the man's ambition.
Saturday night the 47-year-old two-time Pro Bowler enters the octagon at Strikeforce Miami (Superchannel Canada, 10 p.m.) and faces 26-year-old Greg Nagy, a journeyman of so little stature that Strikeforce doesn't even have a bio of him on their website.
Walker doesn't fool himself about what he can accomplish in this sport, and makes clear that his ultimate goal isn't a showdown with Strikeforce heavyweight star Fedor Emilianenko. Instead, he wants to test himself one fight at a time for a couple of years, and then test himself one more time.
In the NFL.
Yes, after Walker leaves the octagon for good, he hopes to become the George Foreman of pro football.
And really, who are we to doubt him?
This man is the greatest running back in the history of the USFL. He has danced with the Fort Worth Ballet and pushed a bobsled. And he helped create the Dallas Cowboys dynasty of the early 1990s -- by leaving town. The Cowboys acquired, among others, Emmit Smith, Alvin Harper and Darren Woodson with the draft picks Minnesota sent them in exchange for Walker.
So in some ways, Walker is as powerful as Jerry Jones, and if he says MMA is one more challenge to conquer before returning to the NFL, I won't dismiss him with out at least tuning in first.
To hear the most accomplished athlete ever to cross over into mixed martial arts explain how he found the sport and how far he plans to take it, click on the MP3 below.
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