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 history. He had a decorated professional career in the NFL and USFL. Now it must feel like he’s 10-years-old again as he steps into an unfamiliar arena where he’s not guaranteed success. Walker, 47, is rolling the dice as a mixed martial artist. To make sure he was ready for Saturday night’s fight against Greg Nagy, he put his role as the head of a successful business on hold for three months to train in San Jose, Calif.
"It was important to get their OK," 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 have 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 Walker 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 weeks 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 young. He’s trying to become a great MMA fighter like myself."
For that reason, Walker is confident he’ll do well and is 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 before 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 a big Showtime/Strikeforce Saturday night in Sunrise, Fla., at the Bank Atlantic Center. He faces the 26-year-old Nagy, a former high school football player, who has just two professional fights.