Herschel Walker Possible to Fight at April Strikeforce on CBS; Event Could Air Opposite WEC 48
Fresh off his successful MMA debut on Saturday at “Strikeforce: Miami,” 47-year-old Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker is likely to fight again and could step back into the cage at Strikeforce’s April event on CBS.
Walker today told Sherdog he’d “love to fight again” and was ready for a quick turnaround to appear on the April card, while Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and a CBS representative were also open to the possibility of Walker fighting on CBS.
The event, which is also expected to feature Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum and middleweight champ Jake Shields vs. Dan Henderson, was expected to take place on April 17, but Coker told SI.com’s Josh Gross on Wednesday that an April 24 date, opposite World Extreme Cagefighting’s pay-per-view debut with WEC 48 headlined by Jose Aldo vs. Urijah Faber, was “highly possible”.
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Tags: Herschel Walker, Scott Coker
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please just retire with a perfect record, and quit taking up strikeforce’s ridiculously valuable card space
He is a huge Draw but save him for a card with lesser draws. Hendo and Fedor will already be a huge draw. They dont need him on this card.
When you consider that as of this posting Herschel Walker is Strikeforce’s hottest fighter, in terms of buzz and causal fan interest, they’d be crazy to not at least TRY and get him back in the cage ASAP, even if they have to cut him a bigger check or something.
Its not like the guy has a lot of time to waste in this sport, and he took like zero damage against his first “opponent”.
If Walker is game, and the interest and money are there, then why shouldn’t he step back in?
Plus I’d much rather see him fight rather than Bobby Lashley, who thus far has left me pretty luke warm in terms of his passion and committment for MMA.
Walker might be older, smaller, and have a much narrower skillset than Lashley, but he’s got heart, passion, and drive, which I’ll take anyday over a guy splitting time with Hulk Hogan and is in one day, and out the next.
Also, for me Walker is a “palate cleanser” of sorts, when faced with the prospect of dealing with someone so happily displaying the thug lifestyle like Nick Diaz does.
Walker is a sportsman, and a great representative of MMA.
Lets all wish him the best, and hope that he continues bringing increased exposure via the mainstream sports media.
Finally, Walker is almost a “Cinderella Man” for the sport IMO, if you follow the reference.
How can anyone not want him to see it thru?
the mma equivalent of cinderella man… looks like ill b needin some tissues and a good hug by the time his mma career is ova then
Actualy after thinking about it I’ve decided that Walker’s story is more analagous to the 80’s Robert Redford flick “The Natural”, than “Cinderella Man”.
Nonetheless, you’ll still need that box of tissues and hug…
see it thru to what is my point, i guess…you were talking about all the things that strikeforce needs to do to improve, and i think by having someone like herschel walker, who will never progress towards any kind of relevent fights, your only sacrificing card space and much needed exposure to more relevent and lesser known fighters (jay heiron comes to mind)…im all for herschel walker fighting mma, but i just dont think that strikeforce should be the ones putting it on, at least not at this extremely important time in their growth, they should be worried about filling their weightclasses with fighters that are gonna be around…just my opinion
@ southcakalak – good point.
Maybe I’ve been drinking a little too much of the “grumpy old men” kool-aid since my 33rd b-day, and Walker appeals to me because of his age.
I may also be looking at this shortsightedly.
Walker is hot RIGHT NOW, and I was thinking that the ‘Force might want to capture some of that heat.
But if in doing so they shortchange themselves, it might not be worth it…
lol, and kimbo was hot for elite xc…for about 14 seconds…cant build a penthouse without a solid foundation
@south
Strikeforce is selling Walker in a different manner than EliteXC sold Slice. That will have a huge effect on how those two situations will pan out differently.
just comparing them as far as short term benefit
I would rather see Lashley fight on this card rather than Walker. Not that i have anything agaist Walker and i was rahter impressed with his Debue, but Walker will never been in title contention and he is doing this for Chits and Giggles. Walker on the other hand wants to bang out like 3 fights as possible to get experience and then he wants to fight the name fighters. I think thats a smart way to do it, especially if he wants a long career in MMA thats the way to go. Dont throw him into the Wolves until he feels ready.
bad way to start for WEC and zuffa if that happens.. Scott being smart if he does that.. he know he cant compete with UFC cards.. he going after the little brother.. i said 30,000 orders for the WEC.. know more like 10,000 PPV buys…
Bad news for the WEC.
Yes it is.
But this is also risky for Strikeforce.
P!ssing off Zuffa by counter-programming an event [if that in fact happens] to the WEC PPV debut is one of the quickest ways I can think of to turn Dana “doberman”, and start gunning for the ‘Force with bad intentions.
As of now Dana has pretty much tolerated Strikeforce and its allied overseas promotions, because after all, its not like they’re taking money out of the UFC’s kick.
However this is something very different, and potentially very dangerous for Strikeforce.
I would rather see Scott Coker concentrate on building his org and not having to rely on fighters like Nick Diaz and Alistair Overeem to carry titles.
Getting in Zuffa’s face might not be the beginning, but rather the beginning of the end…
Smart move by Strikeforce. Walker fighting on NBC will be a HUGE deal and bring in fans that he acquired during his football and celebrity apprentice days. Then show them two awesome fights like Hendo and Shields and Fedor and Werdum and you’re doing everything right.
You mean CBS.
If Strikeforce does counter the WEC with a CBS card, they would destrominate them in a big way, and make things very difficult for the WEC. I’m thinking that one of those cards will not take place that night.
And if Strikeforce does in fact go that route, how long do you think it will be before Zuffa starts carpet-bombing San Jose, and working towards shutting their sh!t down?
That is NOT a smart move for the ‘Force…
Not a smart move at all. Coker needs to understand his place and if he hope to be a lasting organization he needs to Pick up where the UFC left off, not go head to head with them. Its like Faber going agaist Lesner. Sure both are good but one is way bigger than the other one, WAY BIGGER.
doesnt UFC already counter all of Strikeforce’s events (Shotime or otherwise) with a 1-2 month old PPV re-run? I hope that Coker goes for the throat and Dana is forced to start doing a better job of counter future Strikeforce cards.
This is called competiton. This is good for the sport!
THIS is called knowledge. This is good for some of the frenzied.
It most definitely is NOT competition when Strikeforce tries to counter-program Zuffa.
Its not even really competition when Zuffa counter-programs Strikeforce, when you consider the disparity between Strikeforce Miami and a 107 replay in SpikeTV.
While I admire Strikeforce’s fire and MMA passion, Brent’s comparison between the ‘Force and Zuffa going toe to toe being like a Faber-Lesnar cagefight isn’t far off-point.
As good as Faber is, he’d get killed by Lesnar in about 90 seconds, and probably need to be helped to the back by his cornermen.
And Lesnar would probably not even break a sweat in doing so.
Strikeforce needs to play the margins, and fill in the gaps that the monolithic Zuffa misses within the MMA community, which truth to tell aren’t too many.
You’ve also got Bellator out there making a lot of smart and aggressive moves, and securing a nice TV deal, as had King of the Cage with HDNet.
Shine Fights is also working both harder and smarter to get eyes on their product and word out there that Strikeforce isn’t the only UFC-alternative.
IMO what Strikeforce needs to do is get their own house in order long before they even think about directly taking on any part of Zuffa, whether it be the WEC or the UFC.
And finally, zac, when you say that you hope “Coker goes for the throat”, presumably against Dana White, has it ever occured to you that would be a prime exmaple of someone’s reach exceeding their grasp?
Zuffa could buy Strikeforce with the change they find in the Fertita’s custom-made Italian leather couches, so lets not all get too carried away with cheering Strikeforce into oblivion, OK?
Yeah but even though both are good Faber doesnt stand a chance agaist Brock (going back to my metaphor). Competition is all good and well, but these are businesses and just like UFC doesnt host fights on the same night as boxing neither should Strikeforce to the UFC. It slips Viewers and both Promotions wont make the as much profit as they could. Beside their CBS fights Strikeforce will never be able to compete with the UFC and if Strikeforce doesnt want the UFC have fights on that same nights as their Challenger series or Showtime events i Suggest Coker moves the date.
wow..you really went for the throat.
While I’m not saying that Strikeforce could put a dent in any Zuffa production, I am saying they arent as harmless as you are making them out to be. Look at the numbers they were pulling when they put Kimbo on CBS.
I dont think it is a good long-term business solution to put all of your events up against UFC, as UFC clearly has a larger audience, but good lord, to hear you talk nobody should have ever competed with the Monolithic Coca Cola or the Giant IBM!
I dont care if its Faber vs. Lesnar…at least someone has a national TV audience to do ANYTHING directly against UFC instead of just letting them rest on their laurels. If this WEC PPV is a bust and Strikeforce does really well, you dont think Dana will up his game? Just because you think it might not be a good idea, it is competition.
Zac – apologies if it seems like I was putting you on blast.
The truth is I really have a soft spot in my heart for smaller MMA orgs, and would prefer to see them all flourish, and grow the sport at the grassroots level.
Strikeforce is the leader of the regional orgs [Bellator, King of the Cage, Shine, Ring of Fire, etc], and I would hate to see them wreck themselves because they didn’t check themselves, as we used to say back in the day.
There are different ways of competing with the UFC in particular, and Zuffa in general.
Counter programming the kickoff WEC PPV with a Strikeforce card aired on a network on Dana’s sh!tlist isn’t the smartest way to compete with a company conservatively worth TEN TIMES more than your own, which is headed by a guy who byhis own admission is always “looking to scrap”.
Scott Coker, and other MMA promotional leaders, can succeed by working harder to firm up their own product, rather than kamikazi’ing their org into Zuffa’s “weak flank”, the WEC.
All that will serve to do is push Dana White’s sizeable a$$hole button, and nothing good can come from that.
Consider that pre ‘08 Dana White made statements praising Coker and the ‘Force. Less than 16 months later Coker has signed Fedor, a CBS deal, and then Hendo.
You think that makes Dana smile, or be more likely to stifle your sh!t very chance he gets?
If you think its bad now when the UFC counter-programs Strikeforce, see what happens if they cause this WEC thing to go south.
I just don’t think that people outside of the Las Vegas area realize how much stroke the UFC really has, and I would prefer that Scott Coker not really find out…
ZAC kimbo fought for Elite XC and not Strikeforce, and look what happened to them when Kimbo lost on national Television.
my bad on the EliteXC confusion Brent, good call on that. I guess my overall point is that Strikeforce is spending a lot of money as a regional promotion and you only do that when you’re ready to go bigger. While I agree they are too small now to go head-to-head with UFC right now and in the near future…its clear that they arent happy being the little guy.
Maybe this is a bad/lame example but look at Pro Wrestling. I think at the peak of its popularity we had 2 orgs competing (WWF/WCW) and ever since WWF bought up all of its biggest competition, it has become a “Roid guy A vs Roid guy B” with no personality. Now that TNA is spending money to get some popular albeit older talent, they will force WWF to re-innovate their product.
What would be the worst thing that could come out of Strikeforce screwing over WEC? Dana putting on a new live event to counter future Strikeforce cards? That would be a win for all MMA fans. Dana buying Strikeforce? That would cause Fedor to either sign or find an even SMALLER venue, or quit altogether, but the UFC would still get that much more talent aside from him.
I dont really believe that UFC could put Strikeforce totally out of business right now, and I may be wrong. I just dont see how Coker showing Dana that he has to bring out the big guns for all future PPVs is going to do anything but create even more value for my $60 PPV buys every month.
Zac i see what your saying but i would like Strikeforce to remain in business and not try to Counter Program Zuffa. I would personally enjoy watching mma every weekend and if Strikeforce grows then that might be a possibility. Also there isnt much Talent as it comes to contenders in Strikeforce that i would like to see in the UFC. I mean the only guys i want in the ufc is Mossasi, Shields, Fedor, Melendez and Henderson. All the others, though some good fights ex. Diaz, i dont think really have a chance to stand out in the deep waters that is the UFC.
They need to add Walker to the card as it will get non-fans to watch the event, hopefully turning them into casual fans in the future. Just hoping Werdum and Shields get KO’d in the first as they rightfully should and not drag out the inevitable and boring the new fans in the process.
lets see what D White gonna do next.. its pretty much 1 n done for S Coker he has Moussai. Aoki. Lashley. Diaz.. that not big names to compete aganist Zuffa. its kind of a weird stragey for S Coker to go aganist Zuffa. he”ll destroy WEC coveage.. 45 dollars to watch stacked WEC or watch free good fight..i go for free
Actually I like this idea of going head to head with the WEC event. There have been lots of fans pissed about the PPV price (see the other threads). And the UFC has purposely re-aired PPV’s on Spike to directly compete with other org.’s events. Why not give Dana a taste of his own medicine? Although I agree with the sentiments above that this may make Dana pop a blood vessel and ultimately be a bad move in the long run for Strikeforce.
How many other MMA orgs have tried to compete with the UFC, ttrying to give Dana a “taste of his own medicine?”
How many other guys have tried to stand toe to toe with Dana Fu<king White in hopes of "making him pop a blood vessel" and got their a$$es handed to them, and their orgs shut down?
If Zuffa bought PRIDE and turned them into an MMA trivia answer and a Friday night cableTV clip show, what do you think they'd do to Strikeforce or any other North American MMA org that p!ssed in their corn flakes?
I don't know about you, but I don't like the idea of living in a one-org MMA universe. its not good for the sport, the fighters, or the fans.
Fu<king with Dana White and Zuffa is not a business tactic, it's a business suicide note, one which I'm sure Scott Coker has no interest in writing, and I for one have NO interest in reading…
I agree with you- I like having more than one MMA-org.- it’s good for all the reasons you stated.
However, in this case, I believe in the short term (ie. the night of the event) that Strikeforce may be able to get a bigger draw than a WEC event that people are already b*tching about being $45. I definitely want to see both, but I’m thinking the casual fans will choose the free card over the PPV in droves. I’m thinking Coker is gonna win the battle on this night, but it may prove to be the turning point that makes him lose the war. Hopefully for the sport, the fighters, and the fans, I am wrong.
I always liked when UFC would air some free PPV replay the night of a Strikeforce event (especially if it was one I didn’t see at home and didn’t record). I also like the idea of Strikeforce returning the favor. I think it’s a dumb business move in the long run, but you won’t here me complaining “oh, there’s too many fights on this weekend.”
Zuffa bought Pride because DSE was selling it, it wasn’t a hostile takeover. Zuffa had nothing to do with the fall of Pride. Pride killed themselves with thier mafia connections. Elite XC fell, because of the massive debt that Pro-Elite accumulated purchasing like 20 smaller promotions and they were a publically traded company. The Kimbo controversy simply killed their chances of being bailed out financially by CBS. Zuffa had little to nothing to do with any of that. If it hadn’t been for Seth Petruzelli shooting his mouth off, CBS would have bought Pro-Elite and Strikeforce wouldn’t be in this position.
Strikeforce going against the WEC ultimately might cause them to take some hurt with Zuffa, but ultimately the only thing that can kill them as a national promotion is for their relationship with Showtime/CBS to go south. And on top of that, even with the Fedor signing, they haven’t accumulated anything close to the debt that Pro-Elite did.
Let me add another thing on the Pride not; DSE and Zuffa were never truly competitors. There was little crossover between the Japanese and US viewer markets except for hardcore MMA fans. Ie. Zuffa was never going to rule Japan and DSE was never going to rule the US. They competed for contracts and fighters perhaps, but there was little that they could each do to affect the other’s marketshare.
strikeforce may change their fight date haha i love it. I think ill save 50 bucks and watch the 2nd rate strikeforce if thats the case.
Strikeforce is NOT “second rate”, only smaller.
There is a distinct difference.
And being smaller than the UFC is no crime, because every other MMA org on the planet is in the same boat…
great move by Strikeforce twofold.
one, keep Walker in the mix since he is a great speaker and promoter of MMA, and also a household name.
two, counter programming the WEC PPV show is nothing short of genius. again, coker is showing he has balls and will throw down if needed. I disagree with commentators above who think Strikeforce should not try and aggravate zufa. Why not? Zuffa have counter programmed every strikeforce event. what’s so wrong with strikeforce fighting back?
this is the fight business, i greatly admire people and companies who get into a dust-up. I bet Dana white secretly loves the competition. he’s a scraper at heart after all.