At the age of 47 years young Herschel Walker appears ready to test father time.

In September of 2009 it was announced that Walker signed a contract with STRIKEFORCE to compete in the heavyweight division. Currently trained by “Crazy” Bob Cook at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose California, the high profile camp has trained the likes of Josh Koscheck Mike Swick, Jon Fitch, and Cain Velasquez. Walker who admits to being intensely competitive says it isn’t about the money and intends to donate his fight purse to charity.

The ex-NFL running back who currently owns a food service company has been involved in martial arts for over 30 years. He is currently is a 6th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and is not taking this journey lightly. Training with some of the best, he appears to be in great fighting condition.

Walker stands at 6′ 1″ and weighed in for tonight’s fight at 214 pounds. Appearing shirtless, his chiseled physique defied his age. Born on March 3, 1962, Walker claims to do 2,500 push-ups and 1,500 sit ups as part of his morning routine before heading to the gym to train with his much younger opponents and sometimes trains as long as 5 hours a day.

Walker’s opponent for tonight’s fight is Greg Nagy who comes to STRIKEFORCE and this event with a 1-1 record. The 26-year-old Nagy was born in Hungary and moved to New Jersey with his parents in 1988, and stands 6′ 3″ and weighs in at 215 pounds.

Dana White (UFC founder and president) will undoubtedly have his eyes on this fight with possible aspirations of bringing him into the UFC in the future.

Walker best known for being a professional football player has been an athlete his entire life with a long resume that includes competing on the Olympic bobsled team.

After dominating high school football where he played in Wrightsville, GA, he attended the University of Georgia where he won a Heisman Trophy in 1982 as a junior.

He decided to turn pro and since that was prohibited by NFL rules his only option was the second rate USFL which was just getting started and was drafted by the New Jersey Generals in the 1983 draft. Walker won the USFL rushing titles in 1983 and 1985, in the latter season he gained over 4,000 total yards, rushing for an impressive 2,411 yards. In all during his USFL career he amassed 5,562 yards in just 3 seasons playing an 18-game schedule.

The Dallas Cowboys speculating the USFL was going under, drafted Walker in the 1985 NFL Draft and that’s where the running back would start his NFL career in 1986. Walker made the Pro Bowl twice, once in 1987 and again in 1988.

Shortly after, the Cowboys decided to trade him away.
The Minnesota Vikings bit on the offer and were convinced to give up 5 players in what is still considered to be one of the worst deals in the history of the NFL.

After a stint with the Vikings, Walker went on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants before returning to the Cowboys where he finished his career and retired in 1997 after 12 NFL seasons.

Walker finished his NFL tenure with 8,255 yards rushing, 4,859 yards receiving and 5,084 return yards for a total of 18,168 yards. At the time of his retirement he was ranked second in total yardage and 10 years later was still ranked 8th.

He finished with 84 touchdowns, 61 on the ground, 21 through the air and took 2 to the house on kick returns. Walker is also the only player in NFL history with over 10,000 yards from scrimmage and over 5,000 return yards.

When the retired NFL star steps into the ring tonight we should assume his opponent Nagy is relying on his 22-year age advantage to help him outlast Walker.

While many expect Walker to one up his younger opponent with a display of powerful kicks and strikes and prove age is only a number the one question that is sure to be answered is Will Hershel Walker Defeat Father Time?

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