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The much publicized MMA debut of 47 year old Herschel Walker went as many expected on Saturday night at Strikeforce: Miami on Showtime, as the former NFL player and Olympian finished off Greg Nagy in the third round by TKO. Also, Bobby Lashley, in his Strikeforce debut as well, wasted no time in taking care of Wes Sims.
Walker proved any doubters wrong with his third round victory, as he showed some very good athletic skills throughout the duration of the bout. He looked, of course, like a debuting fighter, stiff at times in his standup and unable to finish the fight earlier despite multiple very advantageous positions, but it was still a highly impressive performance considering the age factor and the fact he had never stepped in the cage before. It certainly erased the initial "freakshow" fight vibe that had originally come from the announcement he'd be fighting.
Lashley, on the other hand, picked up a quick TKO victory two minutes into his bout with Wes Sims. The glorified squash match had a bit of a quick finish, and some controversy with Lashley being warned for a thumb in the throat and strikes to the back of the head that Sims heatedly discussed with the ref after the end of the bout. With Lashley looking for three more fights and then challenge a top tier fighter, and in his head at this point he would challenge Fedor at that point, this seemed like an unnecessary baby step with an unprepared opponent who didn't pose much of a challenge.
The successful debuts for both fighters set them up to be featured later this year for Strikeforce, and the follow up by commentator Mauro Ranallo set Lashley up as a likely more highlighted fighter sooner rather than later in Strikeforce's heavyweight division.
[Herschel Walker photo credit Mike Lano (c) MMATorch.com]
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