UFC and NFL: Which Stars Have Done Both?

The NFL is a slow-paced strategy sport, which heavily relies on strength. To keep the players in shape for these tight bursts of bulging energies, their managers often suggest they train in some kind of martial arts. 

With this in mind, it’s not a surprise that a couple of NFL players have found that they are skilled in more than one sport. The latest NFL player to professionally compete in a mixed martial arts competition is Greg Hardy, and he will not be the last!

You can see from the upcoming MMA fights just who has a history with football. 

Greg Hardy

Knowing that Hard has had a past with domestic violence might make his transition to MMA less pure. Putting that information aside, a straight NFL player thrown into a ring tells the world just how much (or little) the players do.

Hardy is a defensive NFL player and a former All-Pro defensive end. He is a heavyweight, and we know that his strength is through the roof. But the thing that MMA fans and professionals are pointing out is that his stamina isn’t great.

The NFL is filled with stops and starts, so on a normal workday, Hardy will have a lot of time to rest. But when you’re in the ring, you don’t have time to catch your breath, and if your stamina starts to dip, you can be sure to lose the round. 

The drop in skill was so bad that the betting agencies put a massive -430 next to his name. This means he was the underdog, and no one thought he could win. When game day came, Hardy couldn’t control himself and forced an illegal strike! The game ended in disqualification and another doubt against his belt.

His second match was more professional, and in the end, the former Carolina Panthers defender earned an easy win after TKO-ing Dmitrii Smoliakov in the first round. Hard hoped this win would silence the haters, but everyone was more confused by Dmitrii’s timid nature. Rumors started to spread that the game was fixed or that the managers scared Dmitrii to make Hardy look good.  

Brock Lesnar

Flipping the coin over, Brock Lesnar was a UFC heavyweight champion first and then tried to make his way into the NFL. During his time with the UFC, he was considered elite competition.

Ready to expand his resume, Lesnar decided to put his WWE career on hold. He had already mastered a lot of his sport and wanted to dive into the NFL. He had a couple of chats with the Minnesota Vikings and lined up to be a strong defense. He was strong enough, athletic enough, and had incredible stamina. But after playing a couple of games, Lesnar proved that he wasn’t as polished as the other players.

A lot of NFL stars have been playing the game their whole lives, and to be in the NFL, you need to understand football at its highest level.

Soon, Lesnar returned to WWE, but he spent enough time in both sports to be classed as an excellent multi-star!

Herschel Walker

Just like the others, Walker didn’t last long in the new sport. Herschel Walker will always be known as a football player, but he did rather well in the MMA. The first thing you should be aware of is that Walker was 50 years old when he made his MMA debut! 

That by itself was an amazing achievement, and while he was in the ring, the 50 years old managed to knock out a handful of players. Just like Hardy, his stamina wasn’t up to scratch, but while he was in the ring, Walker became known as a well-regarded strikeforce. 

If he had entered when he was younger, we might have been talking about a different set of achievements. 

Summary

To be great at one sport is a fantastic achievement by itself; to be great at two is almost unheard of. These amazing athletes tried their hand at something new, and although they didn’t become champions, they did enough to prove to us all that there is more than one path in life.