Herschel Walker To Make MMA Debut;

Nick Diaz And Cris Cyborg Return To Action

 At STRIKEFORCE Event In Sunrise, Florida

Ticket Pre-Sale Begins Monday, December 7 

January 30, 2010

BankAtlantic Center

Sunrise, Florida

NEW YORK (December 4, 2009) — Just months after the stunning announcement that he would try his hand

at mixed martial arts (MMA), NFL and NCAA football legend, Herschel Walker, will make his highly-

anticipated STRIKEFORCE MMA debut at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida on Saturday, January 30. 

Superstar Nick Diaz and STRIKEFORCE world 145-pound women’s champion Cris Cyborg will co-headline

a stacked fight card during STRIKEFORCE’s historic first visit to the state of Florida.

A special pre-sale ticket purchase opportunity will take place for “STRIKEFORCE Insider” e-newsletter

subscribers (http://strikeforce.com/insider.html) beginning at 10:00 AM, ET Monday, Dec. 7, and ending at

10 PM, ET on Thursday, Dec. 10.  ”STRIKEFORCE Insiders” will receive a special e-newsletter Friday, Dec.

4 with the pre-sale code.

Tickets officially go on-sale next Friday, Dec. 11 at the BankAtlantic Center ticket office as well as online at

www.Ticketmaster.com  or by phone at (800)745-3000.

Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner and two-time Pro Bowl competitor, will face an opponent to be

announced in one of as many as five live, SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast)

televised bouts on the STRIKEFORCE card. 

The 6 foot 1 inch, 220 pound former running back, who already holds a fifth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do

and boasts additional training in the combat disciplines of Muay Thai and Kenpo, recently entered a 12 week

MMA training camp at San Jose, California’s American Kickboxing Academy (AKA), which plays home to a

host of the world’s greatest fighters, including STRIKEFORCE Lightweight Champion Josh “The Punk”

Thomson and undefeated middleweight superstar Cung Le. 

Walker, a 1999 College Hall of Fame inductee who was also selected to Sports Illustrated’s NCAA All-

Century Team that year, has never been one to shy away from the road less traveled. 

Following his junior year at the University of Georgia where he had set the NCAA freshman rushing record en

route to an undefeated season and Sugar Bowl championship victory over Notre Dame, Walker, a born-again

Christian, astonished the sports world by withdrawing from school to play professional ball in the newly

formed United States Football League (USFL) rather than wait to enter the NFL draft after the graduation of

his collegiate class, a rule maintained by the world’s largest professional football league at the time.

While the vast majority of football players typically follow an intensive weight room regimen, Walker relied on

bodyweight exercise, conditioning, and calisthenics while maintaining very little body fat.

Walker was eventually drafted in 1985 by The Dallas Cowboys and established himself as a premiere

running back in the league.  In 1986, he was the driving force behind a historic trade that sent in to The

Minnesota Vikings in exchange for five players and six draft picks. 

In 12 NFL seasons with four different teams, he became the only player to gain 4,000 yards three different

ways – rushing, receiving, and kickoff returns.  He is one of six players to exceed 60 touchdowns rushing

and 20 touchdowns receiving and is the only player in NFL history to register a 90 plus yard reception, a 90

plus yard run, and a 90 plus yard kickoff return, all in one season (1994).

Off the gridiron, Walker has achieved a handful of feats, including a seventh place finish in the 1992 Winter

Olympics two-man bobsled competition.  Now 47 years of age, the native of Wrightsville, Georgia will look

to conquer a whole new world. 

Diaz will make his first start since he submitted hard-hitting Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith with a rear

naked choke in the third round (1:41) of their STRIKEFORCE:  Lawler vs. Shields matchup at St. Louis,

Missouri’s Scottrade Center on June 6, 2009.  The 26 year old Diaz, a native of Stockton, California, will put

a five fight win streak on the line.

Cyborg made history on August 15, 2009 when the 24-year-old native of Brazil stopped superstar Gina

Carano with a punishing barrage of strikes in the first round (4:59) of their meeting to become the first-ever

STRIKEFORCE women’s champion.  The long-awaited showdown between Carano and Cyborg also marked

the first women’s main event in the history of any major MMA promotion. 

Doors at BankAtlantic Center open at 7 p.m.  The first non-televised, preliminary card fight will begin at

8 p.m.

STRIKEFORCE in March 2009 signed a multi-year agreement to stage live MMA events on the premium

cable television network.  The promotion made its live, primetime debut on CBS with the “Fedor vs. Rogers”

mega-fight that it co-promoted with M-1 Global on Saturday, November 7 and generated 5.46 million viewers

for the main event between the world’s number one heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, and superstar Brett

“The Grim” Rogers.

About Strikeforce

Strikeforce is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made

history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California

state history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record

crowd of 18,265.  Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for

ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company

unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.”  In May 2008, West Coast Productions,

the parent company of Strikeforce, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity

created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San

Jose.

Contacts:

Strikeforce

Mike Afromowitz – mafromowitz@strikeforce.com

BZA

John Beyrooty: Johnnybey@aol.com

Steve Pratt: Stevep@bzapr.com

- Press Release from Strikeforce with a little editing from us (color, etc...)

Subject to change

(12/4/09)