Herschel Walker’s next fight should be against Rhadi Ferguson

Herschel Walker‘s (2-0) improvement was quite evident Saturday night at “Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Cyborg“. As someone who was quite cautious about Walker’s intentions and capabilities coming into MMA, last night I actually found myself cheering for the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner.

In his first fight he looked rather tight, his stand-up looked stiff and his opponent, Greg Nagy seemed overwhelmed by the whole experience.

Not so last night. Scott Carson was a decent test for Walker. He has legit submissions and appeared to be in good shape.

Carson landed a nice head kick at the beginning of the fight that got Walker fired up. A few moments later Walker dropped him with a punch and followed him to the mat with some ground and pound. Walker maintained good ground control and ended up finishing Carson off at 3:13 of the first round via strikes.

Herschel Walker, now 48-years-old, is 2-0 inside the Strikeforce cage. The question is, where does he go from here?

How about matching him up with another light heavyweight who is also relatively new to the MMA game and who recently made his Strikeforce debut, fellow Olympian Dr. Rhadi Ferguson (3-0).

Strikeforce fans will recall Ferguson, 37, taking on a massive John Richard on Showtime at “Strikeforce Challengers 13” earlier this month in Nashville. Ferguson won the bout via kneebar submission at 2:00 of round two.

A match-up between Walker and Ferguson makes a lot of sense for a number of reasons.

First of all, both men had their first pro fight just nine days apart, in January 2010. Since then, they are both undefeated and are aligned with world class camps, Walker with AKA in San Jose, Calif., and Ferguson with ATT in Coconut Creek, Fla.

Both guys are incredible athletes. Walker’s workout regimen is legendary and he is obviously in ridiculous shape. Ferguson is of the same mold, a true physical specimen and has served as a strength and conditioning coach to numerous top MMA fighters and professional athletes.

Both fighters are Olympians who have transitioned into MMA from other sports. Walker, of course, has a legendary football career, competed in the 1992 Olympics on the bobsled team and is a fifth degree black belt in Taekwondo.

Ferguson is a 2004 Judo Olympian and holds a black belt in Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

In addition to Walker and Ferguson’s physical gifts and improving MMA game, both men are true professionals. They are well-educated successful businessmen. They are well-spoken gentlemen and serve as great ambassadors for the sport.

In a sport that thrives on story lines, Strikeforce has a ready-made one in the palm of their hand with these two. Let’s make it happen in 2011 Mr. Coker!