Johnny Walker is treating a short-notice main event against Waldo Cortes-Acosta like something he found under the tree. Walker headlines UFC Vegas 124 at Meta APEX on Saturday against the top-ranked heavyweight, and he told MMA Fighting the matchup is “a Christmas present.”
He had different holiday plans. Walker said he’d asked for Derrick Lewis in January and was set to spend Christmas in Ireland with his wife’s family. Then Sean Brady got hurt, the original headliner against Gabriel Bonfim fell apart, and Walker and Cortes-Acosta got the call with eight days to go. Walker said he closed the deal after “a little negotiating” in which he “asked for a few perks.” Good for him. Main events on eight days’ notice should come with a little extra.
“I’m hungry. I have two kids to feed at home now, so I have to be ready all the time,” Walker said.
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The range argument
Walker’s pitch is about size plus movement. He said that being big and athletic gives him “a huge advantage over anyone in the division at range,” because he can kick, punch and move, and he called striking easy for him. He also made a point of reminding everyone he trains wrestling and jiu-jitsu, rattling off a menu that ran from double legs to taking the back to submissions.
He admitted he hadn’t broken down Cortes-Acosta’s tape yet when he spoke to MMA Fighting. What he knew: fast jab, good overhand, heavy hands. The last WCA fight he’d watched was the knockout of Lewis, and Walker waved it off as a useful reference, saying Lewis stands in front of you like a wall and doesn’t move his head, so of course the jab landed.
Since that win over Lewis, Cortes-Acosta has dropped two decisions, to Alexander Volkov and Curtis Blaydes. That Volkov loss adds a fun wrinkle here. Walker now trains with Volkov in Las Vegas and said the big Russian will likely be in his corner Saturday.
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The resume
Walker’s heavyweight debut came in October at UFC 332, where he knocked out Mick Parkin with a flying knee. Saturday comes five weeks later. He weighed in at 239 pounds, and the UFC noted he’s chasing his seventh Performance of the Night bonus. The promotion also posted him saying “Heavyweight life is easy.”
He’s got 17 UFC fights and five main events behind him, and he talked about it like a guy who has seen every bad night this sport offers. He’s been knocked out. He’s never been submitted in the UFC, though he has been elsewhere in his career. His view is that Cortes-Acosta has nothing to show him he hasn’t already felt.
A win makes him 2-0 at heavyweight one week before Ciryl Gane defends the title against Josh Hokit. With Alex Pereira, Sergei Pavlovich and Tom Aspinall all hanging around the title picture, Walker still put his hand up.
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“It’s already time to go for the belt,” he said, before adding that he’s fine waiting a year or two and has given himself three or four more years at most.
My take: this is the best version of Johnny Walker, a big, loose guy saying yes to a top-ranked opponent on eight days’ notice with half his homework undone. Cortes-Acosta is coming off two straight losses and doesn’t want to give up the jab at range against a guy with Walker’s reach and kicks. If Walker keeps it standing and long, he gets that perk-laden paycheck and a seat in the title conversation before Gane and Hokit even touch gloves on November 14.
