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This weekend sees the UFC return to Las Vegas' Apex for another Fight Night. In the main event, Johnny Walker takes on Jamahal Hill in a light heavyweight bout.
Ever since his debut in the UFC in 2018, Johnny Walker has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting fighters in the promotion, with numerous wild fights to his name.
Whether the Brazilian can ever establish himself as a genuine contender for the UFC light heavyweight title is still a very fair question to ask. However, based on what he’s produced so far, it’ll be fun to see him try.
With that in mind, here are the five most exciting Johnny Walker fights in the UFC.
#5. Johnny Walker vs. Nikita Krylov – UFC Fight Night: Lee vs. Oliveira
When it comes to a fighter like Johnny Walker, it often doesn’t matter whether he wins or loses in terms of whether he produces an exciting fight. Essentially, nine times out of 10, his sheer aggression will make for some wild action regardless.
This was definitely the case in early 2020, when he faced off with top-10 ranked Nikita Krylov on the main card of what turned out to be the UFC’s first show to take place behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unable to take ‘The Miner’ out in the early part of the fight, Walker found himself in uncharted territory when the Ukrainian fighter seemed determined to grapple with him, managing to absorb some wild strikes, including a heavy elbow and a spinning backfist.
However, while Krylov was continually able to take Walker to the ground, he simply couldn’t control him there. The Brazilian constantly hunted for submissions, threw his legs up for attempted triangle chokes and looked to reverse, while also eating punches.
In the end, despite all of his best efforts, Walker simply couldn’t find a way to keep Krylov off him. By the end of the fight, he seemed utterly exhausted. Despite being out of gas, he did survive to take the fight to the final buzzer, but ended up on the wrong end of a decision.
Despite the loss, though, Walker had performed in a way that ensured he certainly didn’t lose any fan support. On an event that saw a record nine fights go the distance, this was arguably the most entertaining.
#4. Johnny Walker vs. Khalil Rountree – UFC Fight Night: Magny vs. Ponzinibbio
Nobody really knew what to expect of Johnny Walker when he was signed to make his UFC debut in late 2018. He’d earned his shot at the big show with a win on the Brazilian version of Dana White’s Contender Series, but with few fans paying attention to that series, he remained largely unknown.
That all changed inside a period just two minutes when he stepped into the octagon against dangerous striker Khalil Rountree. At the time, ‘The War Horse’ was coming off a win over K-1 legend Gokhan Saki and looked set to make a run up the rankings at 205 pounds.
Evidently, however, Walker didn’t care for the dangerous reputation of his opponent. After gaging the distance, he closed in and grabbed the former TUF finalist in a Thai plum clinch.
Rountree attempted to pull free, but before he could, Walker nailed him with a short-range elbow to the temple, switching his lights off in a flash.
‘The War Horse’ was sent crashing to the ground and two more punches sealed the victory for Walker, who had debuted in the UFC in the most stunning way possible. The victory earned him a $50k bonus and instantly turned him into a prospect to watch at light heavyweight.
#3. Johnny Walker vs. Justin Ledet – UFC Fight Night: Assuncao vs. Moraes
Less than three months after his UFC debut win over Khalil Rountree, Johnny Walker was back in the octagon to take on Justin Ledet. Again, this looked like a tricky bout for the Brazilian, as despite coming off a loss, ‘El Blanco’ had far more UFC experience than Walker and was 3-1 in the promotion.
If fans expected Walker to produce fewer fireworks than he’d done in his debut fight, though, they were hugely mistaken. Instead, he delivered one of the fastest knockouts in UFC history and did so in perhaps the wildest way possible.
This time, Walker didn’t even bother to gage the distance. As Ledet came forward with a jab, the Brazilian dodged him, then landed a hook kick and followed it with a spinning backfist.
The shot connected cleanly, dropping Ledet to his knees. Before he could recover, Walker swarmed on him to force referee Eduardo Herdy to step in after just 15 seconds, giving him the fifth-fastest finish in UFC light heavyweight history.
Bizarrely, things could’ve gone differently, too. Replays showed that as Ledet hit the deck, Walker narrowly missed with a wild soccer kick that would’ve been illegal. Had it landed, he would’ve been disqualified.
The crazy win, as well as the fact that he’d come so close to landing a needless illegal blow, summed the Brazilian’s style up perfectly. Suddenly, Walker went from prospect to potential star.
#2. Johnny Walker vs. Misha Cirkunov – UFC 235
After dispatching his first two opponents with ease, the UFC decided to match Johnny Walker with an even trickier foe for his third outing.
While Misha Cirkunov hadn’t quite lived up to the hype he garnered in his early day with the promotion, he was still a very dangerous fighter with grappling chops to potentially test Walker like never before.
Incredibly, though, the only issues that Walker had in this fight turned out to be of his own making. Once again, the Brazilian dispatched his opponent violently in the first round. Like his earlier two fights, he did it with a wild, low-percentage strike.
In this instance, before Cirkunov even had a chance to get out of first gear, Walker leveled him with a devastating flying knee from nowhere that sent him down. The Latvian-Canadian attempted to cover up, but seconds later, the fight was over after a flurry of ground-and-pound.
Bizarrely, though, Walker would not come away from this bout unscathed. He decided to celebrate in style by attempting to face-plant directly into the ‘worm’ dance, only to dislocate his shoulder in the process.
Walker did spend some time on the shelf following this injury, but the bizarre nature of it only turned him into an even bigger star in the eyes of the fans. Had Dana White decided to push him directly into a title bout at this stage, people would’ve lapped it up.
#1. Johnny Walker vs. Ryan Spann – UFC Fight Night: Covington vs. Woodley
Following two straight losses, the bloom was somewhat off Johnny Walker’s rose by the time that he squared off with fellow prospect Ryan Spann in late 2020. It didn’t take long, however, for his hype train to quickly get rolling again.
Spann, for his part, came into this fight full of confidence. ‘Superman’ had reeled off four straight wins in the octagon and a fifth over Walker would’ve elevated him directly into title contention. With Walker looking a little vulnerable after his two losses, he seemed determined to take his chance.
Sure enough, after a back-and-forth opening that saw both men land strikes, Spann quickly looked to take the Brazilian down. Walker defended from the clinch, but when the two men separated, ‘Superman’ leveled him with a left hand that seemed to knock him out.
Walker somehow snapped back into consciousness, only for Spann to pounce and land heavy blows before taking full mount. Again, though, Walker did enough to survive and then avoided a triangle choke attempt to escape to his feet.
The Brazilian still looked wobbly as he exchanged with Spann again and found himself down for a second time, this time after eating a right hand. When ‘Superman’ followed with an attempted takedown, though, Walker went for broke and hammered the side of his head with a series of brutal elbows that left him unconscious.
The fight lasted a little under three minutes, but was filled with absolutely wild action. For the first time, Walker had fought through some adversity to claim a victory.
Somehow it didn’t earn him a performance bonus, but over a year down the line, the bout still stands out as one of the best to take place in the UFC’s Apex and remains Walker’s most exciting in the octagon.
