More from Herschel on Steroids, the UFC and a $600 Payday

More from Herschel Walker:

On Peoples’ Reactions to His Fight: “I got a lot of people I hadn’t heard from in a long time that just couldn’t believe that I would be doing this and after it was done, they just thought I performed so well. The people that are close to me weren’t shocked at all because they know the type of person that I am. They know the dedication I put in.”

“People were shocked because they couldn’t believe my body, but I said ‘What’s so strange about it?’ It isn’t like I changed. It’s been like this for a long time.”

On Talk of Steroid Use: “I think what was upsetting for me is to hear someone mention that I’m on steroids or something. That’s totally insulting to me because I’ve never taken a drug before in my life. And I’m so against anything like that and I’ve been against it my whole life. I would go through any test anyone ever wants to give me, so for anyone to just suggest, just because I busted my butt for years working out, that I’m on steroids, that’s insulting me. If they knew what in the world I do, they wouldn’t ever suggest that. I’d say anyone in professional sports, in football, that’s ever taken a drug -- steroids or anything-- should not get a second chance. I think they should kick them out.”

Why MMA is Safer: “Everyone thinks this sport is brutal because of the blood. It’s not as brutal as people think it is. Because the body is warm and you cut someone with an elbow or someone starts to bleed a little bit, they bleed more because the body’s warm. Football players and boxers don’t realize if they get a concussion, they continue to play with a concussion. That’s where the danger zone is at. Boxers get knocked down and the referee gives them a standing eight-count when his brain isn’t quite ready yet, that’s the danger zone.”

Why He’s Still Working Media Rounds After His Fight: “I love the sport. I didn’t get into this sport as a passing thing. I didn’t get into this sport like I started it a couple of weeks or a couple of months ago. I’ve loved this for years. I loved this when they had no weight classes when it was sort of like a toughman contest. When they got weight classes and rules I fell in love with it. This is something I’ve thought about for over four years.”

The Hardest and Easiest Aspects of MMA: “The hardest thing was the training. This is very, very demanding. I think this is much harder (than football training). When you train MMA, you’re using every muscle in your body. It’s almost like a sprint on a drag (race) car. For that one quarter-mile, every muscle is in use. But then they bring the car back and they change the whole motor out. When you go into the gym, you can rest, but you’re using every part of the body to bring out the best, but you don’t get to change up and get a new body.

“The easiest thing in this for me was that I was able to adjust to the conditioning well.”

On Why It Was Strikeforce and Not the UFC: “I knew Dana and I’d been to a lot of the UFC events. I knew Dana a little bit and he was always nice and courteous to me. At the time I first thought about this, there was a reality show I was talking about doing (with Mark Burnett), which was funny because Dana almost did a reality show last year with the football players that was a little bit different than what I was talking to everyone about. The UFC just wasn’t something I thought about doing. I was talking to EliteXC at the time and then that kind of moved to Strikeforce.”

How AKA Did Him Right: “They weren’t out trying to make a mockery of this sport. They were out trying to enhance this sport, because they told me if I didn’t go to the gym, I wasn’t going to fight. They were looking out for the sport and they were looking out for me.”

On the Rumored Six-Figure Payday: “Everything that I earned just went to charity. I think it was (a six-figure payday), but I’m not sure. I played football and I never received a check in my life. I signed to fight and Scott and my agent figured it out. I just told them at the time that I wanted everything to go to charity, but I never figured out what I was fighting for. (Note: Florida Commission documents listed Walker as earning $600. Coker said the fee covered licenses and testing only.) When you said $600, I almost got mad because I thought, ‘Wait, I can’t give a charity $600.’ I know I got more than that. It better not be 600!”