Walker (1-0) was scheduled to face Scott Carson (4-1) at next weekend's Strikeforce event in St. Louis, however after recently suffering a cut under his eye, the organization decided to pull him off the card.
MMA Weekly first reported the news, and MMA Fighting confirmed it with Strikeforce director of communications Mike Afromowitz.
"I feel terrible about this,'' Walker stated in a press release. "I know things like this happen in all sports, but I had trained very hard and was excited to be returning to the cage again. I hope to fight again as soon as the cut heals.''
According to the release, Walker was cut from a knee strike while training with AKA teammate Daniel Cormier.
Walker won his MMA debut in January, defeating Greg Nagy via third round TKO.
Afromowitz said the former Heisman Trophy winner will return to the Strikeforce cage in either January or February.
The fight cancellation leaves only four televised fights planned for the Showtime telecast. However, Afromowitz said the organization is working to add a fifth bout in the coming days.
The event, scheduled for Dec. 4, will be headlined by Dan Henderson vs. Renato "Babalu" Sobral.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Think they'll still pay Carson his $1000 purse? ha ha
BS BS BS BS BS I CALL BS, WEEK OUT AND YOUR TRAINING WITH NO PADS? BS NEVER DOES A FIGHT TRAIN WITH NO PADS OR SHIN GUARDS A WEEK OUT WITH THE CHANCE OF GETTING CUT, NEVER HAPPENS. A WEEK OUT YOU ARE RECOVERING FROM TRAINING CAMP WITH MAYBE LIGHT AND I MEAN LIGHT WRESTLING AND BAG WORK AND VERY VERY SLOW JITS SOMETHING ODD WITH THIS
I think Ben Fowlkes had something to do with this!!
that sucks, hope it heals well, i would like to see him fight more than once a year.
Hey walker won't be winning any titles but at least he's no jose coseco.
Honestly, who cares?
Bully Beatdown has some really good fights !!! VERY entertaining !!
Well, at least they don't have to edit the poster very much.
Dam, he is still a massive individual!
maybe he can be on bully beat down.
This is the equivalent of Randy Couture joining Pop Warner Football and getting injured...C'mon people
you know it's funny, with all the rationalizing everyone has done that supports sf for wanting to put walker on the televised portions of main cards......you know, the old, "he is going to bring new people to mma" thing. and how i've always said, "really?"
you mean his name is of that much value, that it justifies sacrificing integrity of the sport, so that you can satiate his ego and again, justify putting on circus crap. really? okay then. i guess sf should just close up shop, since they are going to lose.....all those supposed "new comers".
well, hopefully, sf will give his spot to someone more deserving that actually could use face time on tv. i really dislike celebrity circus crap.
What about Walker is a circus? They aren't billing him as the next champion, it's simply an interesting story. In no way does this put a bad light on MMA. He isn't fighting in strikeforce because he is just famous, he is fighting because he is training seriously and he is famous. That is a big difference. It's not like he is just coming off the street for a paycheck, he is challenging himself against people of equal skill.
yab, i've commented on this numerous times....bottom line i just see this as, indeed not good for the sport.....imo, he might be a nice guy, but, there is something in him that wants to be in the lime light. so, that is a need for ego-satiation.
i see it as him taking a spot from someone else, period. sf and ufc are the big time, this should not be amature hour at the apollo.
yes, he is fighting against others with similar skill set and that is why you have never heard of any of his opponents. they have to scour the bottom of the barrel to find these guys. on that level, it might be credible.....but, as i said this is "supposed" to be the big time. so in those terms it is not credible....nor relevant to any title standings in any way. nor will it ever be.
if walker wants to test his mettle let him do it like everyone else for tiny promotions that might actually benefit from his name, in that way he would sort of be helping the sport out.
just like kimbo, it is pure circus. i live in so. fla, and i know people that trained with him that told me his idea of ground work was doing push-ups, i relayed that here and no-one believed me.....well, do you believe me now? kimbo was all hype, period. sure he had decent stand up for mma. but, at the same time, you will never see him in any type of relevant boxing match.
whatever dude, believe what you want. enjoy it just like dancing with the stars and celebrity poker....okay, it's not that bad, but, pretty close.
i want to see him fight brock lestner
Although a lot of people disagree with SF methods, as in using Walker to draw fans, however sadly it has to be done. If you are like me and wanting to see more than one organisation holding a demand on the market, to allow fighters more opportunities, higher wages and diversity to fight in places such as Japan. Then i'm willing to put up with the fact that Walker would and may in future events be on the main card. However, if SF manage to get the kind of following that the UFC has, a huge 'if', then and only then should people complain about guys like this being on the main card. In saying that, a fight is a fight and rankings etc should not always have to come into consideration. I'd pay to see Babalu vs Henderson any day over Rampage vs Machida.. and vice versa if UFC put on the more appealing fight.
This is the dumbest sport out there. Watch wrestling its better.
I agree. Pro Wrestling is better than MMA. Although, I did like it when The Undertaker made an appearence @ UFC and was face to face with Brock Lesnar last month.
How old is Hershel Walker? He's looks like he's in great shape. I'm 35 and I wish I looked like that.