What happened to Herschel Walker’s MMA career? Controversial Republican’s tenure in the ring was short and sweet

Former NFL running back Herschel Walker recently lost his bid to become a GOP Senator from the state of Georgia. While many associate Walker with his football career, some may not realize that he also tried his hand at Mixed Marts Arts or MMA, for short.

In 2009, Walker signed with Strikeforce, an MMA production company, at the age of 47, which made him decades older than some of the competition he would be facing. In January 2010, he made his MMA debut, as he faced Greg Nagy. He won his MMA debut with a knockout. His second fight wasn't until January 2011, when he won again, defeating Scott Carson with a knockout.

Herschel Walker didn't fight again after that. He was asked a few years later why he didn't continue his MMA career? In 2017 while attending the media day for Bellator NYC, he told FloCombat that nobody wanted to fight him and that is why he stopped.

He said that he wanted to continue his MMA career for fun. However, nobody wanted to face him because he was 2-0, and they believed they would lose. He said that all of the winnings he made were donated to churches and that he wasn't doing it for profit.

"Well, the reason I stopped fighting--I couldn't get a fight. I wanted a step up in talent... Most the time I'm doing this for fun because I love to do it, giving all my money to churches. [Other] guys are doing it for their careers, so it's kind of hard to fight Herschel Walker when there's a very good chance you may lose and he's doing it for fun and they're doing it for a career. So that's kind of tough."

At the time, he said that he still maintained a gym routine, so he didn't necessarily miss fighting, but it was fun while it lasted.

How long did Herschel Walker play in the NFL?

Herschel Walker played his collegiate career at the University of Georgia and left after three seasons to pursue a career in the USFL in 1983. He played for the New Jersey Generals until 1985 when he was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round of the NFL Draft.

While his time with the Cowboys was successful, the team traded him to the Minnesota Vikings in a move that is still talked about today. The Vikings believed that they were just missing a star running back to make a playoff run. But the trade ended up working in the Cowboys' favor. The Cowboys received six draft picks from the Vikings which they would later use to draft Emmitt Smith, Kevin Smith, Russell Maryland and Darren Woodson. All of them would help lead the team to their dynasty phase in the 1990s.

The running back would then spend time with the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and another attempt with the Dallas Cowboys before retiring in 1997.

He rushed for a total of 8,225 yards and 61 touchdowns in his career.