Clark Kent
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01-29-2010 02:43 PM:Herschel Walker has done it all on the football field. He won a Heisman Trophy in 1982 and is considered one of the best college football players in the history of the game. He had a decorated professional career in both the NFL and USFL. Now it must feel like he's 10-years-old again as he steps into a unfamiliar arena where he's not guaranteed success. Walker, 47, is rolling the dice as a mixed martial artist. He put his role as the head of a successful business on hold for three months to train in San Jose, California to make sure he was ready for tomorrow night's fight against Greg Nagy.
"It was important to get their okay," Walker said of the crew at American Kickboxing Academy. "I can love the sport. I can want to do it but maybe I'm not ready."
Walker said if he didn't get clearance from trainer Javier Mendez, he would've backed out of the fight.
"There's no doubt there's still questions in a lot of people's minds. It's not a joke, it's not a circus out there. You can get injured," said Walker.
The 6-foot-1, 220-pound is still regarded as one of the best pure athletes to ever step on the football field but his transition to fighting came slowly.
"Because you're out there working with true fighters, it's gonna come tough," said Walker, who got some tough love early from the dozen or so pro fighters who train at AKA. "You gotta question me. No matter what kind of athlete I am. The first couple of week it was slow. It was very slow. As weeks passed, it got better and better."
Walker hopes win or lose, he helps MMA in the long run.
"I just hope my name can boost this sport a little bit. Get people to come out and watch it, and get more people to like it. I think this can be an Olympic sport. If we can get more people recognizing it, I think we can make it happen."
Walker cautioned people on expectations.
"I'm not trying to go in there in fight a champion. I'm going in there fighting someone like myself. He's yoiung. He's trying to become a great MMA fighter like myself."
For that reason Walker is confident he'll do well and free of nerves.
"I'm stepping into something totally different but I've been around the best. That's why I feel great now because I've been around the best."
Walker said he had more butterflies when he played in big football games.
"It's totally different. I think sometimes the guys around you [before a football game]make you nervous. Right now, I'm not nervous at all. Maybe in the lockerroom [on fight night], that's when the nervousness might hit. I think because I have confidence in my gym, I have confidence in the people I've been working with, I think they put me at ease a little bit."
Walker is part of big Showtime/Strikeforce tomorrow night in Sunrise, Florida at the Bank Atlantic Center. He faces 26-year-old Greg Nagy, a former high school football player, who has just two professional fights under his belt.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
"It was important to get their okay," Walker said of the crew at American Kickboxing Academy. "I can love the sport. I can want to do it but maybe I'm not ready."
Walker said if he didn't get clearance from trainer Javier Mendez, he would've backed out of the fight.
"There's no doubt there's still questions in a lot of people's minds. It's not a joke, it's not a circus out there. You can get injured," said Walker.
The 6-foot-1, 220-pound is still regarded as one of the best pure athletes to ever step on the football field but his transition to fighting came slowly.
"Because you're out there working with true fighters, it's gonna come tough," said Walker, who got some tough love early from the dozen or so pro fighters who train at AKA. "You gotta question me. No matter what kind of athlete I am. The first couple of week it was slow. It was very slow. As weeks passed, it got better and better."
Walker hopes win or lose, he helps MMA in the long run.
"I just hope my name can boost this sport a little bit. Get people to come out and watch it, and get more people to like it. I think this can be an Olympic sport. If we can get more people recognizing it, I think we can make it happen."
Walker cautioned people on expectations.
"I'm not trying to go in there in fight a champion. I'm going in there fighting someone like myself. He's yoiung. He's trying to become a great MMA fighter like myself."
For that reason Walker is confident he'll do well and free of nerves.
"I'm stepping into something totally different but I've been around the best. That's why I feel great now because I've been around the best."
Walker said he had more butterflies when he played in big football games.
"It's totally different. I think sometimes the guys around you [before a football game]make you nervous. Right now, I'm not nervous at all. Maybe in the lockerroom [on fight night], that's when the nervousness might hit. I think because I have confidence in my gym, I have confidence in the people I've been working with, I think they put me at ease a little bit."
Walker is part of big Showtime/Strikeforce tomorrow night in Sunrise, Florida at the Bank Atlantic Center. He faces 26-year-old Greg Nagy, a former high school football player, who has just two professional fights under his belt.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
