Herschel Walker Says He Could Beat Any TUF 10 Heavyweight, Expects to Debut for Strikeforce in December
Herschel Walker, the 47-year-old former footballer who last week signed with Strikeforce, was a guest today on ESPN’s First Take. Walker took issue with UFC President Dana White’s comment that the “ridiculous” signing hurt the sport, challenging White to a fight during the appearance and declaring the he could beat any heavyweight from The Ultimate Fighter 10.
“Who ever made him the guy to measure athletic talent?” said Walker. “I don’t think Dana knows anything about athletic talent. He knows about fighters, which is different, but I will say this: He’s running a show right now with heavyweights and I’ll put dimes to donuts, all the heavyweights on his show right now I will beat. That’s pretty easy to say. I always tell people put their money where their mouth is. Dana says I’m so old? Why doesn’t he step into the ring with me?”
Despite his issues with White’s comments, Walker still had praise to offer for the UFC President and co-owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta.
“We got to give Dana his props,” said Walker. “Dana and the Fertittas have done a great, great job with the UFC.”
Walker, who is training with American Kickboxing Academy for his MMA debut, added that he hopes to fight before the end of the year, likely debuting with Strikeforce on Showtime in December. He plans on donating his salary from the bout to charity.
Tags: Herschel Walker
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Big claim for a guy who hasn’t had a single MMA match yet.
lol, herschel walker couldnt beat andy wang in an mma fight let alone any fighter from tuf 10….hahaha this dude is delusional i have just lost all respect for him….if dana was to fight him i would pick dana to win by submission……lol herschel thanks for the best laugh ive ever had in my life….i hope this dude gets ko’d in his first fight in the first 10 seconds……Im calling for the ufc and strikeforce to copromoate an event with the main event being todd duffe vs herschel walker
HAHA!
WAR ANDY WANG!
Walkers first fight will be a tomato can. Then another one until he has a bunch of people on his bandwagon saying he could beat lesner. Then he will step up to fight a real fighter now don’t get me wrong he has the best chance to have a heart attack or stroke before he gets beat.
bottom line: he would gas and then lose.
Let him fight someone his own age. Get him in the cage with Randy Couture and see what happens.
If Herschel Walker stepped into the cage with Randy Couture he would probably need assistance getting back out of the cage and back to the lockerroom…
well i guess we’ll have to wait and see if he’s the real deal
G-slinger….you actually had respect for H.W.????? and JUST lost it???!!!!
lmao – marketing bravado is funny but regretfully often makes the messenger look like an ass.
No matter the motivation its “ra-tarded” to talk smack about an organizations fighters and sign with another. There’s a list of them avoiding fights like this.
I expected more of Walker. He hasn’t done anything. wtf…
Give the guy some credit he is a sixth-degree black belt aint he ? also didnt he nearly make the Olympic relay team ?
athletically he is impressive
no he is just a regular black belt in tae kwon do and guess what he was an olympic bob sled team lol….that doesn make him a good mma fighter….give this guy some credit forget that…ive been working my butt off for a year and this turd comes out of no where and doesnt even have to have an ametuer fight and strikeforce signs him…I had respect for herschel walker the football player but i have no respect for walker the mma fighter…no one just comes into the sport and calls out guys he is a loser…….i hope the tomato can strikeforce puts him against ko’s him….he needs some humbling
So it’s bitterness. Now I understand.
sixth degree judo blackbelt for the record. id give him more respect if he shut his mouth and fought like a man. also he would earn more respect and victories if he had the black belt in brazilian jiu jitsu. no doubt he did his thing in the NFL, but this is different, you dont get a 30-40 second break every 5-10 seconds like the NFL.
Judo is not an art to sneer at. No it doesn’t necessarily have all of the sophisticated submission associated with BJJ, but Judo is derived from Japanese Jiu Jitsu and still includes lots of submission as well as other good grappling techniques. And lets not forget that the kimura is so named because it was the technique used by the judoka Masahiko Kimura to defeat Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu founder Hélio Gracie.
well said justin
i understand that judo is no art to sneer at justin, i really do. i was trying to say that if he had his blackbelt in bjj or was/is really proffecient[sp] in it i feel he would pick up more wins espically in the hw division. which of the heavyweights outside of mir, big nog, fedor, werdum, utulize jitz in their mma game? espically at the strikeforce level, i feel he could pick up a lot of wins or at least be able to negate his lack of a complete mma game by using jitz. sure judo includes subs, but theres a difference imo between judo and jitz blackbelts. bjj blackbelts are used to and very good off of their backs [the majority are imo] and i feel walker will be on his back during his fights.
Don’t forget Walker is a mental whack-job. He tried suicide by running his car in his shut garage. The guy suffers from depression which means when times get tough, he will crack, pull a Mike Tyson and bit somebody. He is a specimen, but mentally, he is weak. To me it sounds like he is tempting Dana to get him on TUF or get him a fight in the UFC. Dana should really sign these guys to a 1 fight deal and throw them to the wolves….
I smell Jose Canseco coming to Strikeforce as well..It’s gonna become a washed-up celebrity fighting league. I hope I didn’t just read right-DMX is scheduled to fight on an upcoming MMA card in Alabama…MY Goodness..
You did read that, sorry. I know that is the most hilarious thing I’ve read in quite sometime.
So why did he not try to get on the show. Sounds like all talk no action.
he will get 1-2 “easy fights” and then maybe be a opponent for fedor. M-1/stikeforce will try to market it as the “biggest fight in the heavyweight division ever”.
I am a big fan of the “Frenzy” here (I constantly check this page). But I think this article was done very poorly and it completely dishonored Herschel Walker’s whole interview with “First Take”. This was a very one sided report on what Herschel actually said. Before he challenged Dana to a match he expressed his sincere admiration for what Dana White has done for MMA. Even tho Dana had nothing but negative things to say about him. He just felt if Dana felt he was a chump and they both have the same experience level, he should put his fist where his mouth is. But at the the end of the day he clearly showed more respect for Dana and the UFC then he did with his negative feelings towards Dana.
In regards to what he said about the HW’s on TUF, hes telling the truth. In the two fights we have seen so far All 4 fighters were “D-Level, out of shape, no way in hell they could call themselves pro fighters” and we all know that. For a guy thats been dedicated to fitness like Herschel is, its not far out that he would assume he could be beat those guys. I compete at 170 and I honestly belive I would beat at least 3 of those guys.(Although im probablly wrong).
I saw that interview, and prior to that I wasnt a fan of Herschel but the man has a true love and respect for MMA. It was a great interview and this article did it NO justice. I mean the man said all of his fight salary is being donated to charity!!!!!! Once again, I am a big fan of this website and its legitmacy but im very disappointed on how this article took what was a great interview for the sport and completely turned it into garbage.
Thanks for your feedback Bzul3, I’ve updated this post to include Walker’s praise for the UFC and a note about his donation to charity.
At first I simply chose to publish the most quoteworthy piece from the interview, but based on your feedback I feel the need to share additional information to make it clear that Walker did more than slam the UFC in the appearance.
Thanks Kris, I really do appreciate that
Personally, I can’t say who HW can and can’t beat, no one really knows what he has been doing since he retired. I can’t say I’ve lost respect for him because (as a mma fighter) I had none for him… he’s not proven in the octagon and I can’t loose what I never had..as far as a football player, I still have respect for him because there, he is proven. I don’t think it’s fair that he can get signed the way he did, I think it would have been better if he WERE one of the TUF 10 heavyweights, BUT strikeforce, UFC, IFC etc… can do whatever they want if it’s their money. They have paid the cost to be the boss. Which one of us if any one of the MMA promoters came and wanted to sign one of us regardless of how many fights we had would turn it down? The bottom line is: It’s all about the Benjamins. And obviously, strikeforce feels that they can make some with him. Second, why should great fighters like Randy or Chuck and others have to retire because they are in their 40s? Just about every other contact martial art form has a 40 and up class. Why can’t one exist in MMA? These guys and others have a lot of fight left in them and I would pay to see them at any age.
If Dana White said that they are of the same skill level they should fight, that would be awesome.. someone would eat a slice of humble pie regardless of who wins.