Johnny Walker has spent years hearing that his chin is the problem. On Saturday he took the hardest right hands Waldo Cortes-Acosta could throw, then knocked him out at 2:27 of Round 3 in the UFC Vegas 124 main event at the Meta Apex.
The finish was pure Walker. After Jason Herzog broke up a stalled clinch and restarted them in the center, Walker landed a question mark kick upstairs that stunned Cortes-Acosta, followed it with a backfist, then chased him down with a right hand that put him on the mat. A few follow-up shots and it was over. Walker, bloodied, did the worm while the Vegas crowd chanted his name. Of course he did.
Then he grabbed the mic and made it personal.
Per MMA Fighting, Walker opened with a thank you and then let it rip: “Without a heavy guy like this who could take a punch, it wouldn’t be a good fight. F*ck everybody who said I had no chin. Who don’t have a chin now? This was just to prove to everyone.”
He earned the profanity. Cortes-Acosta put him on the canvas with a right hand in the first round, and Walker popped right back up. Late in the second, Walker ended up on his back with Cortes-Acosta in half guard landing elbows and short punches. MMA Mania counted him as hurt on a couple of occasions. He never folded. Meanwhile his low kicks were wrecking Cortes-Acosta’s lead leg from the opening bell, and by the third round the Dominican’s movement looked compromised.
Nobody expected these two to headline. The original main event, Sean Brady vs. Gabriel Bonfim, fell apart when Brady withdrew with an injury, and Walker accepted the Cortes-Acosta fight on nine days’ notice, according to Essentially Sports. That came barely a month after his heavyweight debut, a first-round knee knockout of Mick Parkin at UFC 332 on Oct. 3. Walker told reporters at one point he didn’t want a fast climb at heavyweight. Two fights in, he’s headlining against a top-10 guy and winning.
The 34-year-old Brazilian, a longtime light heavyweight, moves to 24-10 overall and 10-7 in the UFC, 2-0 since moving up. Both heavyweight wins came by strikes. Heavy reported the result should push him into the division’s top six.
For Cortes-Acosta (17-5, 10-5 UFC), it’s a third straight loss after decisions to Alexander Volkov and Curtis Blaydes. His last win was a second-round stoppage of Derrick Lewis at UFC 324. Essentially Sports and MMA Mania both noted he had never been knocked out before Saturday.
Walker said his next stop is New York, where he plans to watch Ciryl Gane fight Josh Hokit for the heavyweight title at UFC 334 next weekend.
In the co-main, Tatiana Suarez beat Virna Jandiroba by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).
My take: this is my favorite kind of fight week story. A guy says yes on nine days’ notice, eats a right hand from one of the heaviest punchers in the division, and wins with a backfist off a head kick that no coach on earth would draw up. Walker at 205 was a guy draining himself to make weight and getting clipped. Walker at heavyweight looks like he can absorb his own chaos. If he’s sitting cageside at UFC 334 next Saturday, somebody at the UFC should hand him a camera and a microphone.
