Johnny Walker looks very comfortable at heavyweight.
The UFC veteran notched his second straight victory since leaving his former light heavyweight home, knocking out Waldo Cortes-Acosta via third-round knockout 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 on Walker’s part, who said after the fight: “It’s not technique. It’s a surprise motherfucker.”
The fight was booked on short notice after Sean Brady withdrew from a planned main event against Gabriel Bonfim due to injury. Both men entered in dire need of a win – Cortes-Acosta to end a two-fight losing streak that derailed his path to a title shot, Walker to prove that his victory over Mick Parkin in his UFC heavyweight debut was no fluke.
Walker spent most of the fight trying to maintain his distance from the favorite Cortes-Acosta, regularly delivering leg kicks and trying to find an angle for his unconventional striking. Cortes-Acosta’s plan was a little simpler: rush in and go for the head when there was an opening.
This mostly worked during the first two rounds. Cortes-Acosta seemed to land the harder blows and spent more time in control while wrestling. He was ahead on two of the three scorecards at the start of the third round, and it’s hard to understand why the third-place finisher decided to give Walker the first round.
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Walker, however, held up to Cortes-Acosta’s aggression quite well and that ended up being a point of pride in his post-match interview:
“Fuck everyone who says I don’t have a chin.”
Unfortunately for Walker, it was quite a crowd at the end of his stint at light heavyweight, where he had just one victory in his last five fights. So far, his heavyweight version has been a different animal, and this victory means he might suddenly have a path to the top of the division that was simply no longer available to him at 205 pounds.
Check out full results and highlights from UFC Vegas 124 below.
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Main map
Heavyweight: Johnny Walker def. Waldo Cortes-Acosta via TKO (strikes) at 2:27 of R3
Women’s strawweight: Tatiana Suarez def. Virna Jandiroba by 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 by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Women’s Bantamweight: Nina Milosevic def. Priscila Cachoeira via TKO (strikes) at 3:40 from R2 | Watch finish
Flyweight: Mitch Raposo def. Marcos Degli by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Preliminary map
Featherweight: Ollie Schmid def. Keiichiro Nakamura by 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 by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Featherweight: Murtazali Magomedov def. José Delano by 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 by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Welterweight: Jose Souza def. Jonny Parsons via TKO (uppercut) at 4:16 of R1 | Watch finish
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