Johnny Walker is looking mighty comfortable at heavyweight.
The UFC veteran notched his second straight win since moving up from his old home of light heavyweight, taking out Waldo Cortes-Acosta via third-round KO on Saturday at UFC Vegas 124. The end came suddenly, with Walker leveling Cortes-Acosta with a hard right.
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It was pure instinct from Walker, who said after the fight, “This is not technique. This is surprise motherf***er.“
The fight was booked on short notice after Sean Brady pulled out of a scheduled main event against Gabriel Bonfim due to an injury. Both men signed up in fairly dire need of a win — Cortes-Acosta to snap a two-fight losing streak that has derailed his path to a title shot, Walker to prove that his win over Mick Parkin in his UFC heavyweight debut wasn’t a fluke.
Walker spent most of the fight trying to maintain his distance from the favored Cortes-Acosta, routinely delivering leg kicks and trying to find an angle for his unconventional striking. Cortes-Acosta’s plan was a bit simpler: rush forward and go for the head when there was an opening.
It mostly worked for the first two rounds. Cortes-Acosta appeared to be landing the heavier blows and spent more time in control while grappling. He was up on two of three scorecards entering the third round, and it’s hard to see why the third decided to give the first round to Walker.
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Walker, however, weathered Cortes-Acosta’s aggression well enough and that wound up being a point of pride in his post-match interview:
“F*** everybody who says I have no chin.”
Unfortunately for Walker, that was quite a few people by the end of his time at light heavyweight, where he posted only one win in his last five fights. So far, the heavyweight version of him has been a different animal, and this win means he might suddenly have a path to the top of the division that simply was no longer available to him at 205 pounds.
Check out complete UFC Vegas 124 results and highlights below.
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Main card
Heavyweight: Johnny Walker def. Waldo Cortes-Acosta via TKO (strikes) at 2:27 of R3
Women’s strawweight: Tatiana Suarez def. Virna Jandiroba via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Bantamweight: Elijah Smith def. Davey Grant via KO (right hand) at 1:00 of R1 | Watch finish
Light heavyweight: Lucas Fernando def. Billy Elekana via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Women’s bantamweight: Nina Milosevic def. Priscila Cachoeira via TKO (strikes) at 3:40 of R2 | Watch finish
Flyweight: Mitch Raposo def. Marcos Degli via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Preliminary card
Featherweight: Ollie Schmid def. Keiichiro Nakamura via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
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Heavyweight: Thomas Petersen def. Gabriel Lorenco via TKO (strikes) at 4:47 of R3 | Watch finish
Women’s flyweight: Karina Silva def. Gabriella Fernandes via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Featherweight: Murtazali Magomedov def. Jose Delano via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Featherweight: Austin Bashi def. Carlos Calderson via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:01 of R1 | Watch finish
Middleweight: Andre Petroski def. Mantas Kondratavičius via TKO (strikes) at 4:39 of R2 | Watch finish
Welterweight: Seokhyeon Ko def. Wellington Turman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Welterweight: Jose Souza def. Jonny Parsons via TKO (uppercut) at 4:16 of R1 | Watch finish
