Herschel Walker Ain't No Brock Lesnar

When Herschel Walker signed with Strikeforce to compete in mixed martial arts, UFC president Dana White was quick to deride the signing as nothing more than a freak show.

Defenders of the signing have been quick to point out White's own signing and quick elevation of Brock Lesnar to show that White is using a double standard for himself and his competition.

Lesnar and Walker are both freakishly talented athletes who have crossed over from other sports. Both athletes will bring a lot of attention to their respective fight promotions and to the sport. That is about where the comparison ends.

While I'm certain that White's job as a promoter often leaves him in a position where he ends up contradicting his previous statements, it's worth pointing out the vast differences between the two signings.

The recent health concerns about Lesnar have cast some doubt upon his future as a professional fighter, but before these health issues were discovered Lesnar's fighting potential seemed a lot brighter than Walker's.

Before his career as a professional wrestler, Lesnar was a NCAA Division I heavyweight champion. A wrestling background is probably the best background for an MMA fighter to have, especially in the heavyweight division, where top position dominance is absolutely crucial.

Walker's main athletic background comes from football and other running activities, but if he does have any martial arts background, it is in Tae Kwon Do.

Tae Kwon Do is generally seen as far less applicable to MMA than wrestling. There are successful fighters who employ various Tae Kwon Do techniques, such as the spinning back kick, but aside from that there are few techniques applicable to MMA.

It is very rare that you'll see an MMA fighter successfully execute a tornado kick or a ridge hand in MMA, for example.

Generally speaking, as a striking martial art, there are at least two major problems with Tae Kwon Do.

First, it relies too much on a type of distance that a fighter just isn't going to have in an MMA fight.

Furthermore, tae kwon do employs a great variety of kicks, but is seen as underdeveloped in terms of hand attacks.

Karate, muay thai, and kickboxing all make better use of the hands, while boxing has proved to still be highly effective in MMA, once a boxer learns how to defend against kicks.

Aside from the difference in fighting backgrounds, Lesnar also has age on his side, as he is 32, while Walker is 47. The raw 15 year age difference only tells part of the tale. 

Randy Couture has been able to stay competitive well into his forties, but he has done so using a wrestling background.

There seems to be some reasoning that states that wrestlers can continue longer in MMA since their skills don't rely upon speed and reaction time quite as much as the skill of a striker, who needs every bit of speed in order to punch and avoid punches.

In terms of generating interest for their respective promotions, Walker may bring in some mainstream sports interest, but that interest is unlikely to be as bankable as the interest generated by Lesnar.

Football fans might tune in to see one of their heroes take on a new challenge, but perhaps not—especially when you consider that Walker hasn't actually played pro football in a long time.

Lesnar, on the other hand, was an instant bankable commodity. Pro wrestling is already very similar to MMA in some aspects, and pro wrestling fans are already accepting of the idea of pay-per-view entertainment.

I wouldn't count on football fans being willing to buy a pay-per-view after being able to watch football on free television. When Strikeforce does make its planned move to PPV, Walker is unlikely to be a key factor in marketing the event.

All things considered, I feel safe in concluding that the implications of Herschel Walker's MMA debut have been greatly overstated.

Walker's foray into MMA will end up being seen as little more than a celebrity interest story, where some fans might tune in to watch to see if a great athlete can be successful in MMA despite time not being on his side.

Far from a freak show, Walker's MMA debut is more of a peek into the man's continued drive to compete. Nevertheless, this particular instance will end up being placed among the many celebrity attempts at MMA, rather than as a legitimate game-changing moment like the MMA debut of Brock Lesnar.