Herschel Walker and Jose Canseco have gotten way too much coverage from the mainstream media according to UFC president Dana White and he's sick of it. Before and after his Strikeforce fight, Walker, 1982 Heisman Trophy winner, appeared all over ESPN television, ESPNRadio and ESPN.com.
"Herschel Walker is like 50 years old and it’s a cool little fun hobby," White told Gridlock on ESPNRadio1100 (0:10 mark) in Las Vegas."You know what makes me crazy is the media attention it got. ESPN will cover Herschel Walker fighting when you got guys like George St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, Brock Lesnar, and B.J. Penn. All these great athletes that have been training for years and are the best in the sport and you are talking about Herschel Walker? Then you start talking about Walker possibly fighting Jose Canseco? Oh my god, give me a break."
For many casual fans like ESPN1100's Seat Williams, after seeing Walker all over ESPN, the natural question is why isn't Walker in the UFC?
"Hell no. You know what would happen to Herschel Walker over here? It would be the first death in MMA," said White. "He wasn’t impressive in his first fight; he would have to turn it up for the next three or four."
That seems to be a bit of a stretch. The 6-foot-1, 215 lb. Walker can't compete as a low-level light heavyweight or heavyweight? His conditioning and heart can't be worse than Rolles Gracie, who got just one fight with the UFC at UFC 109, gassed out in three minutes, quit in the second round and was cut four days later.
Canseco has hitched his wagon to Walker. He was all the rage on MMA blogs last week when he called out the former NFL star. There were reports that the 45-year-old former MLB slugger met with Strikeforce. In any case, he began training at a rival gym in Northern California to Walker's American Kickboxing Academy. Canseco's trainer Cesar Gracie said he will turn Canseco into a solid fighter in three months. Canseco lost his only professional fight and is 0-1-1 in celebrity exhibitions.
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