Herschel Walker and 25 NFL Legends Who Could Have Been Great In MMA
It’s not often that a 47-year-old man is beginning a new career.
But that’s exactly what former NFL and college football star Herschel Walker did just under a year ago when he had his first professional mixed martial arts fight.
Walker is one of the most well-known college football players of all-time, as he was selected to three All-American rosters and won the 1982 Heisman Trophy. He remains the only player in NCAA history to have ever finished in the top three in Heisman voting every season he played.
He continued that success in the pros when he joined the United State Football League in 1983 following his junior year in college.
Walker dominated that league for three seasons before being drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in 1985, where he went on to star for the team and make two Pro Bowl rosters.
Walker was eventually traded to the Minnesota Vikings in 1989 in one of the most monumental trades in football history.
He never really caught on in Minnesota and spent the next handful of seasons bouncing around the league before eventually re-signing with the Cowboys in 1996 and retiring in 1997.
Walker spent the next decade out of the spotlight for the most part before taking part in a mixed martial arts reality television show in 2007. Walker began training and was eventually signed by the MMA promotion Strikeforce, where he would fight as a heavyweight.
He defeated Greg Nady in his first professional bout at the Strikeforce Miami event, ending the fight by TKO due to strikes mid-way through in the third round.
While Walker may be well past his physical prime, he remains an unbelievable physical specimen whose body has stood the test of time.
The transition from NFL to MMA has been a long one for Walker, but helps illustrate the point that the NFL is full of amazing athletes that likely could have been superstars in other sports.
Quite a few former NFL players have tried their hand in mixed martial arts, including four fighters on the most recent season of the UFC’s "The Ultimate Fighter" reality series. On the show, former NFL first-round pick and Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Marcus Jones competed with Matt Mitrione, Brendan Schaub and Wes Shivers, who all had short NFL careers themselves.
While Herschel Walker is considered one of the best pure athletes the U.S. has ever produced, he may not be the best former pro football player who could have made the transition into mixed martial arts.
Numerous former and current NFL players also had backgrounds in wrestling, a sport which many consider to be the most important core for mixed martial arts. No matter their background, though, the NFL is full of athletes who could have done practically anything they wanted to in the sports world.
Even given his impressive history and athletic promise in several different sports, Herschel Walker himself was once quoted as saying, “If MMA had been around, I would have went into that instead of football.”
With that in mind, this list of 25 current and former NFL legends is a trip into a hypothetical parallel universe where some of the world’s best athletes have passed on professional football to become professional mixed martial artists.
25. Andre Johnson, Wide Receiver
1 of 25Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson is considered by many to be the best receiver in the NFL today.
His huge 6’3” and 225-pound frame makes him an imposing figure for opposing cornerbacks, but it’s his quick movements and speed that truly make him great.
Drafted in 2003, Johnson has already been selected to five Pro Bowls while leading the league in receiving yardage in both 2008 and 2009.
He currently ranks first all-time in NFL history with an unbelievable 79.7 yards per game receiving.
But it was his brawl with Tennessee Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan in Week 12 of the 2010 season that may have shown us a side to Andre Johnson that none of us really knew was there.
After being harassed by Finnegan throughout the game, the two of them erupted in a fight that ended with both players having their helmets ripped off.
It was Johnson, though, who got the best of Finnegan in the fight as he slammed the cornerback to the ground before delivering a punishing punch to the side of the head followed by a grazing shot as the two were being separated.
Though it’s hard to credit a guy for throwing punches in a non-sanctioned fight, it showed us the fierceness that we didn’t really know was in Johnson—the kind of ferocity needed to make a move to mixed martial arts.
Then again, perhaps it’s Cortland Finnegan who deserves to be on this list. He took those punches like a champ.
24. Howie Long, Defensive End
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Pro Football Hall of Fame member Howie Long spent all 13 seasons of his NFL career wearing silver and black for the Raiders in Oakland and Los Angeles.
Long collected an impressive 91.5 sacks during his career while being selected to eight Pro Bowls and winning a co-NEA NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 1985.
Long’s Raiders were also the Super Bowl XVIII champions.
In addition to his dominating performances on the football field, Long was a boxer at Arizona and became the Northern Collegiate Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
At 6’5” and 268 pounds, Long had tremendous power and the boxing background that could have made him a big-time threat in the heavyweight division.
23. Brian Urlacher, Linebacker
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Amazingly, potential future Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher was offered only two scholarships to Division I schools coming out of college.
Though Urlacher wanted to attend Texas Tech University, he did not receive and offer from them and eventually chose New Mexico State University.
Urlacher played four positions in high school—running back, wide receiver, defensive back and kick returner—but surprisingly, none of them were what he ended up starring at in college.
Instead, Urlacher became the “Lobo-Back,” a cross between safety and linebacker, in New Mexico State’s 3-3-5 defense. He excelled in this position and was eventually drafted in the first round of the NFL draft by the Chicago Bears.
Urlacher made an immediate impact for his new team, winning the 2000 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award and making the first of his seven Pro Bowl appearances.
He was also awarded as the 2005 AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year and is a member of the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team.
Despite following in the footsteps of some of the greatest linebackers of all time—including Mike Singletary and Dick Butkus—Urlacher actually holds the team record for most tackles in a single season.
Urlacher has a unique blend of size and speed that makes him an athletic nightmare for offenses.
Though he is more of a fan of pro wrestling than he is mixed martial arts, Urlacher has the physical tools that could have made him an excellent MMA fighter.
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22. Alan Page, Defensive Tackle
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Alan Page is now a justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court, but he wasn’t always such a gentleman.
From 1967 through 1981, Page terrorized opposing offenses as a member of the famous “Purple People Eaters”—a nickname given to the Vikings’ defensive line during perhaps the best run in team history.
In 1971, Page became the first defensive player in history to be awarded the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.
Before that, it was often thought that a defensive player would never win the award, but Page was the kind of dominant defensive player who would do anything to be the best.
Since Page won the award, only one other defensive player—the New York Giants’ Lawrence Taylor—has been given the same honor.
Page was listed in the NFL’s Top 100 Greatest Players of All Time at number 43—the highest of any Viking in history.
He used unbelievable brute force combined with quickness to get past defenses. He would have some room to add on even more muscle if his 245-pound body could support it before stepping into the cage.
21. Bruce Smith, Defensive End
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It would be difficult not to include the NFL’s all-time leader in sacks in this list of NFL players who could have been mixed martial artists.
Defensive end is a position that requires a mixture of many things that are used in mixed martial arts.
Quick movements, speed, strength, balance, and determination are all core concepts of the position—and there’s definitely a case to be made that no one in pro football history did it quite as well as Bruce Smith.
Smith is the only player in NFL history to collect 200 sacks and one of only four players to even crack 150.
He truly had it all in the sport and was awarded as such with 11 Pro Bowl selections, two AP Defensive Player of the Year awards, and selections to both the 1980s and 1990s All-Decade Teams.
20. Dick Butkus, Linebacker
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Though he played just nine seasons, Dick Butkus is widely considered to be one of the toughest, most-feared players in the history of the league.
Butkus was selected to eight Pro Bowls in his nine seasons and was a member of both the NFL 1960s and 1970s All-Decade Teams as a member of the Chicago Bears.
He was a bear of a man who would toss opposing blockers out of the way on his way to the ball carrier before violently slamming them to the ground, often knocking the ball away in the process.
Though the stat wasn’t tracked until years later, it is assumed that Butkus would have been among the all-time leaders in most fumbles forced despite a relatively short career.
Butkus had the ability to make tackles anywhere on the field while also defending against tight ends and running backs on passing downs.
“When I went out on the field to warm up, I would manufacture things to make me mad,” he once said.
“If someone on the other team was laughing, I'd pretend he was laughing at me or the Bears. It always worked for me."
19. Vernon Davis, Tight End
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One of the most physically gifted players to ever step onto an NFL field, Vernon Davis has gone from draft bust to NFL stud during his short professional football career.
Davis started off as a multi-sport athlete in high school, where he lettered in football, basketball and track & field. He was the DCIAA champion in the high jump with a jump of 6 ft 5 in.
He went on to star at the University of Maryland but really impressed everyone when he had what is considered to be one of the greatest performances ever at the NFL scouting combine.
The 6’3”, 250-pound Davis ran the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds while broad-jumping 10 ft 8 in.—nearly a foot farther than the closest tight end.
His athleticism is absolutely off the charts and he could likely star in any sport if he really gave it his full attention.
18. Lawrence Taylor, Linebacker
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Lawrence Taylor is one of the most physically gifted, determined athletes to ever play in the NFL.
L.T. is so good, in fact, that he is largely credited with changing the game and making the left tackle position one of the most highly coveted positions on the team, simply because that is the position that would need to try to block perhaps the greatest defensive player of all time.
Taylor made the Pro Bowl in each of his first 10 seasons as a pro, including nine first-team All-Pro selections. He won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award three times while also becoming one of only two defensive players to have been awarded with the AP NFL MVP award in history.
The ferocity that Taylor brought could not be matched by any player on the field and he absolutely dominated the game throughout his career.
Though Taylor is often noted as a drug user, no one can question the presence he had on the field and the intensity he had to hit the opposing quarterback.
Now if only he could have done that without pads and in a cage, he might have had a nice career in mixed martial arts.
17. Steve Wisniewski, Guard
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“The Wiz” played 13 seasons, all with the Raiders in Los Angeles and Oakland.
He was an eight-time Pro Bowler and selected to the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team for his excellent on-field play.
Wisniewski stood 6’4” and weighed over 300 pounds in the NFL but was once a state wrestling champion in California, a notoriously difficult state to win the championship in.
Though he would need to cut nearly 40 pounds to meet the top of the heavyweight division, it’s worth noting that he used his additional weight in the NFL to help give him more of a base for blocking.
In MMA, he could slim down and still keep the power, but he wouldn’t be trying to slow down 280-pound defensive linemen all day.
16. Warren Sapp, Defensive Tackle
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Though he doesn’t necessarily look the part, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders defensive lineman Warren Sapp was also a high school wrestling champion in his home state of Florida.
Sapp actually played four positions in high school football—linebacker, tight end, place kicker and punter—before going on to star at the University of Miami as a defensive tackle.
Needless to say, he figured that position out as well as he became the Bronko Nagurski (best defensive player) award winner in 1994 before moving on to the NFL in 1995.
Fellow former University of Miami defensive tackle Mark Caesar once described Sapp as having the “power of a Cortez Kennedy and the quickness of a Russell Maryland.”
The high praise was true, though, as Sapp’s quickness and power were instrumental in making him one of the NFL’s best defensive players.
He won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 1999 and was also selected to the 1990s and 2000s All-Decade Teams.
Sapp’s biggest issue may have been keeping his weight down. At over 300 pounds during his NFL career, Sapp would need to cut quite a bit of weight to meet the top-end of the heavyweight limit of 265 pounds.
15. Jim Thorpe, Running Back
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Jacobus “Jim” Thorpe may be the most versatile athlete who has ever competed in American sports.
In college, Thorpe was a multi-positional player who played running back, defensive back, place kicker, and punter for Carlisle.
He once scored every single point for his team—four field goals and a touchdown—in an upset win over Harvard.
The next year, Carlisle went on to win the national collegiate championship as he scored 25 touchdowns and 198 total points.
Not only was he an excellent professional football player, Thorpe was also a multi-sport Olympic gold medalist in 1912 in both the pentathlon and decathlon, while also playing professional baseball and basketball.
Some athletes may talk about being versatile today, but few have ever even competed professionally in two sports, let alone as many as Thorpe was able to.
The guy could have done anything he wanted to and been great at it—mixed martial arts included.
14. Roddy White, Wide Receiver
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Perhaps the most surprising name on this list for many readers will be Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White.
While White doesn’t have quite the mean streak that many of the other names on this list do, his pedigree is no less impressive.
While he has blossomed into one of the NFL’s best receivers and led the league in receptions in 2010, White was also a very successful wrestler in high school.
In fact, he was a two-time state champion in South Carolina, often using a move coined the “Shanaz” to pin his opponents.
White stands 6’0” and 212 pounds with an excellent physique that would make him a great candidate to compete in the 205-pound light heavyweight division.
13. Simeon Rice, Defensive End
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Ranked 12th all-time in career sacks, Simeon Rice was also the second-fastest player to ever reach 100 career sacks behind only the legendary Reggie White.
Rice was known during his career as one of the most athletic players to ever play on a defensive line in the history of the league.
Former Illinois head coach Lou Tepper talked highly of Rice, stating that “it's rare that a defensive player can be like a Red Grange or a Gale Sayers, can take on that kind of dimension. But he's the Red Grange of defense.”
Said former Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammate and Ultimate Fighter competitor Marcus Jones on Rice, “I think Simeon Rice would be a really good MMA fighter. Not only is he a good athlete, he's a nimble athlete. He can move, he has the kind of flexibility you need for jiu-jitsu, he has the power. I think he'd be a good MMA fighter.”
Listed at 6’5” and 268 pounds, Rice would need to cut very little weight to make the top end of the heavyweight division while also maintaining his incredible speed, power and athleticism.
12. Jared Allen, Defensive End
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More and more NFL players are starting to use mixed martial arts as part of their training for football.
Allen himself feels that the training helps him with some of his moves as well as his cardio on the field.
He believes that mixed martial arts are more than just training the body, though, and that it’s also about training the mind.
"I have such a respect for fighters because, as an individual, you test how far you can push yourself," he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "[It's] the art of pushing yourself to a wall and then saying, 'OK, I want to push myself past that wall.' Even though you don't know what's on the other side, you're going to jump over and see what your body can take. That whole concept, to me, is cool."
Allen even cornered his training partner Alex Karalexis at WEC 48 last April. Though he was primarily there for moral support, Allen’s love for mixed martial arts is certainly there and he understands that while there is an individual in the fight eventually, it’s an entire team that helps that individual get prepared.
At 6’6” and 270 pounds, Allen brings an incredibly quick first movement and has used it to amass an impressive 83 career sacks since his rookie year in 2004.
11. Troy Polamalu, Safety
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Perhaps no player in the NFL changes his team’s performance more when he’s on the field than does Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu.
His quick reaction time, speed, and anticipation make him what many consider to be the best safety in the NFL today.
Polamalu is a noted fan of mixed martial arts and believes that the sport can be considered an art.
“It's no different from Michaelangelo in a sense in the way that he draws or paints things. So I'm a fan of real martial arts guys—guys that have something different than just a physical talent. Guys like Rickson Gracie and Fedor Emelianenko, I believe they have that.”
At only 5’10 and 207 pounds, Polamalu’s biggest problem may be that he is a few inches shorter than what would be considered ideal.
Then again, he’s not your typical athlete anyway.
10. Deacon Jones, Defensive End
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Nicknamed the “Secretary of Defense,” Deacon Jones is considered one of the best defensive players of all time.
His pass-rushing skills were on display even in a day when pass-rushing wasn’t considered the norm by the defense.
Jones was named the “Most Valuable Ram of All Time” by the Los Angeles Times and former Rams head coach George Allen called him the “Greatest defensive end of modern football.”
He won the Defensive Player of the Year award twice in 1967 and 1968 while being selected to eight pro bowls.
At 6’5”, 272 pounds, Jones’ size has been replicated by countless defensive ends since him due to the incredible way that he dominated games.
In fact, the term “sack” is largely attributed to being coined by Jones.
Though the stat wasn’t recorded by the NFL until 1982, the prevailing opinion is that Jones would have been credited with 26 sacks in 1967 and 24 sacks in 1968—each of which would be higher than Michael Strahan’s record 22.5 sacks in a season.
In addition to being perfect for the NFL, Jones would be the ideal size and strength as a heavyweight MMA fighter.
9. Jim Nance, Fullback
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Though Jim Nance spent most of his best days as a professional in the AFL, he was also a member of the Boston/New England Patriots who eventually transitioned into the NFL.
Nance’s career started off slow for the Patriots in his rookie year but he eventually led the AFL in rushing in back-to-back seasons.
He was the first player in AFL history to surpass 1,400 yards rushing in a season and was named an AFL All-Star in 1966 and 1967. He was also voted the AFL MVP in 1966.
But as great of a football player as he was, Jim may have been an even better wrestler.
In 1963 and 1965, he won two NCAA heavyweight wrestling championships for Syracuse University.
At 6’1” and 260 pounds, Nance was a huge football player but also showed the elusiveness and quickness to be a great ball-carrier.
Imagine what a 260-pound two-time national wrestling champion could have done in the world of mixed martial arts.
8. Jim Brown, Fullback
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Voted No. 2 on the Top 100 Greatest Players of all time, perhaps no player in NFL history has ever dominated the competition as much as Jim Brown did from 1957 through 1965.
Brown left the NFL to pursue his acting career but had already set the career record for rushing yardage as well as touchdowns and all-purpose yardage.
He was a Pro Bowl in every season of his career, won the NFL MVP award three times, and was a member of the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team.
In addition to being an incredible NFL player, he was a first-team All American in lacrosse in high school while also excelling in baseball and track.
He was also a extraordinary boxer.
According to Syracuse boxing coach, Roy Simmons Jr., Brown could have been the heavyweight champion if he dedicated himself to the sport.
7. Lorenzo Neal, Fullback
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The modern fullback is often overlooked, but it’s hard to forget about the impact that fullback Lorenzo Neal had for the teams that he played for during his NFL career.
His career started off slow, but in 1997, he started a streak that truly shows how great he was when he became the lead blocker for New York Jets running back Adrian Murrell.
Murrell became the first running back in 10 straight seasons that benefitted to the tune of over 1,000 yards rushing.
Though he was just 5’11” and 255 pounds, Neal looked like a freight train when he hit the defenders. He was eventually selected to four pro bowls while also making the NFL’s 2000s All-Decade Team.
But as great as Neal was in football, he may have even been a better wrestler.
He was a state champion as a senior in high school in the 275-pound division and went on to compete in the 1992 NCAA wrestling tournament, where he finished seventh in the nation.
Neal would be one of the shorter heavyweights in mixed martial arts, but his impressive wrestling background and raw, brute strength could make him an extremely difficult beat inside a cage.
6. Jack Lambert, Linebacker
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If there has ever been a face for gridiron toughness, it would be John Harold “Jack” Lambert.
During his 11 year NFL career, Lambert was named to an amazing nine Pro Bowls, including seven First-team All-Pro selections.
He was also the defensive leader of the Pittsburgh Steelers during their four Super Bowl championships in the 1970s.
He ranked 29th all time on NFL Network’s Top 100 Greatest Players list.
Lambert was considered too small to play linebacker in the NFL at just 6’3” and 204 pounds when he entered the league.
His strength and unbelievable tenacity made him a great player, but his intimidating personality helped make him one of the best players of all time.
Imagine staring across the cage at this guy.
Good luck.
5. Bronko Nagurski, Fullback / Defensive Tackle
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Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski was a Canadian American football player from the 1930s.
Nagurski starred at the University of Minnesota on offense as a fullback and defense as a tackle, and also was honored as an All American in 1929.
In just one of his amazing displays of toughness, Nagurski dominated a game against Wisconsin while wearing a corset to protect a cracked vertebra.
At 6’2” and 235 pounds, Nagurski would still be one of the bigger running backs in today’s NFL, but he was an absolute monster during his era.
He was voted as the No. 19 overall best player of all time by NFL Network in 2010.
Bronko also had a successful career in pro wrestling, becoming a three-time world heavyweight champion.
He was well known as one of the toughest players of all time and his size and strength combination would have been a great combination for mixed martial arts.
4. Dick “Night Train” Lane, Defensive Back
22 of 25Known as one of the hardest-hitting defensive backs of all-time, Dick Lane earned the name “Night Train” by installing fear into his opponents’ heads with his punishing hits.
His tackles around the head and neck were often referred to as the "Night Train Necktie."
Lane wasn’t just a hard-hitter, though. His coverage skills helped made him the NFL’s all-time single season interception record holder in 1954 when he picked off 14 passes as a rookie.
Amazingly, this record still stands despite being set during a 12-game season. His career number of 68 interceptions ranks fourth all-time in the NFL.
Lane didn’t have much of a background in combat sports, but at 6’2”, 210 pounds during his playing days in the 1950s and 1960s, he was one of the best athletes in the game.
Having only played football and high school and junior college, Lane didn’t have much to show to the St. Louis Rams when he tried out for them—but his intensity and determination made him a Hall of Famer.
He could have done the same thing in mixed martial arts.
3. Ronnie Lott, Defensive Back
23 of 25A first-round pick in 1981 for the San Francisco 49ers, Ronnie Lott went on to star in the NFL, making 10 Pro Bowls. He also was a member of four Super Bowl winning teams.
He’s one of only a few players to be selected as a member of an NFL All-Decade Team in two decades and was also named to the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Lott starred at both cornerback and safety throughout his NFL career but he was perhaps best known for his knockout hits.
Perhaps his most famous hit came at Super Bowl XXIII when he hammered Cincinnati Bengals running back Ickey Woods in the backfield early in the game, setting the tone for the 49ers on their way to winning the Lombardi Trophy.
To say that Ronnie Lott was “tough” would be as big of an understatement as can be imagined.
After having his pinkie finger crushed on a tackle during the 1985 season, Lott went on to have the tip of it amputated at the knuckle during the offseason so that he could continue playing with relatively little recovery time.
He does have some background in martial arts—specifically Taekwondo—and is a noted observer of amateur wrestling though he never competed in it himself.
The 6’0”, 203-pound Lott could have likely cut weight to around 185 lbs. if he tried and would have been one of the fiercest competitors in the middleweight division.
2. Stephen Neal, Guard
24 of 25While he may not be a “legend” in the sense that he is a household name, New England Patriots guard Stephen Neal is a three-time Super Bowl winner and starter on one of the best dynasties of the past 20 years.
As good as Neal is in the NFL, he could have been an absolute monster in mixed martial arts.
Neal was such a good athlete, in fact, that he didn’t even play college football and still made it in the NFL as an undrafted free agent.
Instead of playing college football, Neal became one of college wrestling’s most prolific athletes at California State University, Bakersfield, compiling a record of 151-10 with four All-American seasons.
He dominated the sport, placing fourth in Division I as a freshman and second as a sophomore before winning back-to-back individual titles in his junior and senior seasons.
He was also given the Dan Hodge Award as the nation’s most outstanding college wrestler of the year following a 1999 season in which he won the U.S. Freestyle Championship, the Pan-American Games title and the World Championship at 286 pounds.
The most notable win of Neal’s college career came in his senior season when he faced junior Minnesota wrestler and now former UFC champion Brock Lesnar in the finals for the title.
Neal won the match as a senior, which cleared the way for Lesnar to win it the following year in 2000.
Neal’s agent, Neil Cornrich, told CSNNE.com that Neal would be interested in signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the future.
When asked about the possibility of Neal eventually becoming a fighter, Lesnar said, “He could become something great. If he ever tried it and could make weight, I’d have to say he could be a force to be reckoned with.”
A force, indeed.
At 305 pounds, Neal would need to shed nearly 40 pounds before stepping into the cage for the UFC.
There are heavier weight classes in other organizations, but there is little doubt that this stud athlete would want to compete with the best of the best in the world’s top mixed martial arts company.
1. Ray Lewis, Linebacker
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Perhaps the most universally accepted defensive legend in the NFL today, the Baltimore Ravens’ Ray Lewis is an intimidating force at linebacker.
Considered by most to be one of the league’s best run-stoppers of this generation, Lewis is much more than that and could only be fairly categorized as a complete defender.
In fact, a poll of NFL coaches before the 2003 season saw Lewis listed as the runaway choice as the league’s most dominant NFL player as he received 10 of the potential 32 vote. No other player in the league received more than two votes.
His determination and intensity are unmatched, but Lewis also credits his high school wrestling background for much of his ferocity and technical discipline.
“The principles that you learn in wrestling, none of that changes. It carries over, and if you stick to those things, the low man always wins,” Lewis said in an interview with The Patriot News in 2010.
He knows what he’s talking about, too—Lewis won the Florida state wrestling title at 189 pounds in high school back in 1993.
At 6’1”, 250 pounds, Lewis would be the perfect size to compete near the top of the heavyweight division and would instantly be one of the scariest athletes ever to step into a cage.
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