Herschel Walker’s foray into mixed martial arts brought a lot of mainstream sports media attention to Strikeforce. Being in his late 40’s and a former great in the football ranks — especially his time in college — Walker brought national familiarity and freakish athletic credentials to a promotion that needed the exposure.
Walker told The Lavar Arrington Show with Chad Dukes that he would like one more fight, this time on the largest stage there is (via MMA Fighting):
“If I was younger, I would be doing it right now. Because I’m a little bit older and I have a business going, I would like to do one more fight and then, I think, it’s time for me step aside and give it to the young people. But I would love to do one more fight.”
When asked by Dukes where he would want that fight to take place, the former Heisman Trophy winner emphatically said “in the UFC.”
This is, of course, unlikely to ever happen. Walker’s Strikeforce bouts were against less than top level opposition. It’s unlikely that the UFC would bring in the kind of opponent that would be on his level just for a brief pop in media attention.
A promotion like Bellator has to be at least a little interested in putting out feelers to see if Walker is interested in coming to their promotion though. Opponent quality isn’t as high of a concern there and he would bring more attention that they’ve ever had before.