'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Herschel Walker
Herschel Walker wasn't best known for his MMA career. Instead, he's known for his three-year run with the Georgia Bulldogs that many consider to be the most dominant college football career in the history of the sport. Herschel Walker parlayed another three years in the USFL before finally making it to the NFL in 1986.
Walker built his trade value up enough with the Cowboys to be part of one of the worst trades in the history of the sport that sent him to the Minnesota Vikings during the 1989 season. He would spend another eight years in the league with the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, and Dallas again before retiring in 1997.
In January 2010, Walker entered the StrikeForce cage for the now-defunct MMA promotion and defeated Greg Nagy by TKO, before doing the same a year later to Scott Carson in the first round of their fight. He revealed his motivation to go pro as a fighter was to show the world that he was still a top athlete, even as he was approaching his 50s at the time:
"I'm honored that Strikeforce and Scott Coker would give me this opportunity because a lot of people don't think a 47-year-old athlete can do this, but I told them I'm not your average athlete, but at the same time, I don't want to embarrass this sport. I want to prove to all the 47-year-olds that, if you get out and work, you can do anything. To all the housewives and the husbands sitting on the couch saying they can't do anything, I want to prove that they can -- they just gotta get up and do it."
Many may now know Walker as the Republican senate candidate in the state of Georgia, but before he was ever a combatant in the political arena, he put the gloves on and fought for real.
Matt Mitrione
Matt Mitrione played one season for the New York Giants as a defensive tackle out of Purdue -- he played nine games and had eight tackless and four solos -- but he truly made a name for himself in the sports world during his time in the UFC.
He was known as the first man who defeated Kimbo Slice in the UFC during UFC 113 in Montreal via TKO. Of course, this wasn't Slice's first MMA loss or even his first defeat under the UFC umbrella. Roy Nelson had TKO'd Slice during The Ultimate Fighter, a show where amateurs fought for a pro contract.
Mitrione's career most notable win came when he knocked out Pride Fighting Championships legend Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator NYC on June 24th, 2017. He was released by the promotion in July of last year.
Bob Sapp
Like Matt Mitrione, Bob Sapp was a one-and-done NFLer. In his case, he was as an offensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings. Sapp was known for being the big man that'd lose to smaller, more skilled opponents and "freak show" fights in Japan for Pride Fighting Championships.
Some of Sapp's most notable losses were to Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira by armbar, Ikuhisa Minowa by heel hook, and WWE superstar-turned MMA fighter-turned WWE superstar, again, Bobby Lashley by TKO.
Sapp also had a kickboxing career with an almost identical record to his MMA record. Combined, he is 24-39, having been on the wrong side of a knockout caused concussions more times than the right one.
Brendan Schaub
Brendan Schaub's football career peaked at the University of Colorado as a special teams player before going undrafted in the NFL and ultimately being cut by the AFL's Utah Blaze and retiring from the sport altogether.
It's a good thing he did. Schaub's second professional sports career in MMA turned out to be a far more fruitful venture for the six-foot-four former running back. Schaub won his first four fights on the regional circuit before reaching the Ultimate Fighter Finale and being knocked out by eventual winner Roy Nelson.
He'd go on to win his next four fights, knocking out the likes of Gabriel Gonzaga and Mirko Cro Cop, before losing four of his last six fights with four of them coming by knockout. He finished his MMA career 10-5.
Greg Hardy
Greg Hardy controversially became an MMA fighter after being arrested (and later found guilty) for assault and communicating threats after grabbing his ex-girlfriend, throwing her into furniture, strangling her, and threatening to kill her in 2014. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Hardy for 10 games during the 2015 season after a two-month-long investigation by the league found that there was "sufficient credible evidence" that Hardy had engaged in conduct which "violated NFL policies in multiple respects and with aggravating circumstances."
Hardy made his professional MMA debut at Dana White's Contender Series 9 in June 2018. He knocked out fellow former NFL defensive end Austen Lane in the first round and was rewarded a UFC contract. He looked good in his first four fights, losing one by an illegal knee to a downed opponent in a fight he was winning and having a decision win overturned because he used an inhaler, but the wheels have fallen off since.
Hardy is 2-4 in his last six fights with the last three coming by way of knockout, the last two happening in the first round. After his last loss, he is now an MMA free agent.
