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[Sakara=Excitement]

Heavyweight Herschel Walker draws Greg Nagy in mixed martial arts debut | MMAjunkie.com

We've known since November that former NFL star Herschel Walker (0-0 MMA, 0-0 SF) would make his professional MMA debut on Jan. 30 at "Strikeforce: Miami" at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla.

Now we know who he'll face.

MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) has learned from sources close to the promotion that Walker will meet two-time Rage in the Cage veteran Greg Nagy (1-1 MMA, 0-0 SF).

The proposed matchup was first reported by ULTMMA.com, and MMAjunkie.com has learned that both parties have agreed to the contest and the Florida State Athletic Commission has approved the matchup. The bout is now waiting on internal approval from Strikeforce and Showtime executives before the matchup is officially announced for the evening's televised portion of the card.

Walker makes his professional debut at 47 years old. The former Heisman Trophy winner and two-time Pro Bowl running back signed with Strikeforce this past September, and he has spent some time at California's American Kickboxing Academy in preparation for the contest.

Walker is a longtime practitioner of traditional martial arts. The former football star is a sixth-degree black belt in tae kwon do who has also trained in Muay Thai and Kenpo karate.

Meanwhile, Nagy made his professional debut in May with a first-round TKO win over Robert Principato, who was also fighting as a pro for the first time. Nagy then lost a unanimous decision to Francisco Navarro in a contest this past November. Navarro entered the bout with a 1-1 career record.

With the addition to the card, "Strikeforce: Miami" now includes:

MAIN CARD

Nick Diaz vs. Marius Zaromskis (for vacant welterweight title)
Champ Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos vs. Marloes Coenen (for women's featherweight title)
Robbie Lawler vs. Melvin Manhoef
Bobby Lashley vs. TBA
Greg Nagy vs. Herschel Walker*
PRELIMINARY CARD (un-aired)

Jay Hieron vs. Joe Riggs
Pablo Alfonso vs. Marcos da Matta*
Sabah Homasi vs. John Kelly*
David Gomez vs. Craig Oxley*

[hass]

Read this as I watched a 51 year old Ray Van Clieff fight Royce Gracie at UFC 4. Now, who will Lashley fight?

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

Originally Posted by hass

Read this as I watched a 51 year old Ray Van Clieff fight Royce Gracie at UFC 4. Now, who will Lashley fight?

I'm totally calling Travis Wiuff, Brad Imes or Ray Sefo. They need somebody who'll be an easy and impressive win. Lash has potential, but he barely squeeked by Jason "tumtum" Guida, so I wouldn't run before I could walk here.....

[thefirm0]

Originally Posted by Fedorlei Gomipierre

I'm totally calling Travis Wiuff, Brad Imes or Ray Sefo. They need somebody who'll be an easy and impressive win. Lash has potential, but he barely squeeked by Jason "tumtum" Guida, so I wouldn't run before I could walk here.....

imes would be a good gauge of where he's at. very tough, and has a good game off his back. obviously with the gogo under his belt.

also the point of riggs and hieron on the undercard is a travesty, either take one less commercial break, or bump walker and nagy, or better yet cyborg, i'm not a fan of women's mma in the least.

[goodtimes]

Originally Posted by Fedorlei Gomipierre

I'm totally calling Travis Wiuff, Brad Imes or Ray Sefo. They need somebody who'll be an easy and impressive win. Lash has potential, but he barely squeeked by Jason "tumtum" Guida, so I wouldn't run before I could walk here.....

It wasn't really a close fight, by saying he "squeeked" by Guida you make it sound like it was. It was definitely a low action fight, but if you take out the first 2-3 minutes of Lesnar/Herring and its a very similar fight. It was also Lashley's 2nd fight, every other fight he's had he's pretty much massacred the guy he's fought. But I agree they should try to bring him up slowly, he has a lot of potential and throwing a guy like that to the wolves is just bad business.

[Repenter]

this is actually a really solid card. riggs/hieron on the undercard seems a bit iffy to me though.

[GL Jeff]

If they match-up Lashley with Imes, its game over for Bobby. He would get sub'd so easily.Guida almost got a choke on him, Imes would make short workof him. As for Hershel, wow, stack those cans grocery boy.

[Mirko45]

Main card fight between 2 people with 1 combined win between them..... anyway didn't Brad Imes retire recently?

[beau420]

What makes me more mad is that there is no way to view the prelim fights, they don't even record them.

He might be rusty, but I am really looking forward to Riggs vs Hieron.

I think that because of his last fight against JT money, they want to keep him off the main card. The thing is, Jesse Taylor made that fight boring, Hieron managed to outwrestle him...which I didn't think he could. And I guess Riggs last big test was Baroni, and although Riggs punished Baroni thoroughly, he couldn't get the KO or submission.

Maybe Strikeforce just wants to shows finishers and doesn't want to show fighters who fight to a decision.

I don't care, I want to see it. I could do without the chick fight, but then again, it is the most coveted women's MMA title in the world and they want to showcase that.....who knows, maybe someone is going to get sick/fail a random drug test (I know it's in Florida and weed isn't considered a performance enhancer and isn't tested) and then Riggs vs Hieron will get pushed to the main card.

Imagine Hershel gets caught pre-fight for juicing. LOL...whatever gets me Hieron vs Riggs.....both those guys have paid their dues. More so than Lashley and Hershel....but maybe they bring more of a crowd.

[KevoOnTheRadio]

Yes, Imes did retire, he's got bad knees. I think he's a fireman now. Pretty agravated that Riggs/Heiron is on the prelims. Rather see that then Hershal Walker.