Johnny Walker had just won his second fight at heavyweight, the kind of night where a fighter usually spends the press conference talking about himself. When someone asked about Alexander Volkov, he gave it to his teammate instead.
“Yeah, he does, bro,” Walker said at the UFC Fight Night 290 post-fight press conference, when asked whether Volkov deserved to be next. “He’s been in the division for how long? He’s probably the toughest guy on the planet. You know, it’s his time now.”
The obvious objection is that teammates say this sort of thing. They’re supposed to. Walker (24-10 MMA, 10-7 UFC) shares a room with Volkov, and nobody expects a training partner to stand at a microphone and argue someone else’s case. So set the loyalty aside and look only at what the division is offering right now. I think Walker lands on the right answer anyway, and he gets there with less hype than most title arguments carry these days.
What the division actually looks like
The belt is booked. Ciryl Gane defends against Josh Hokit in the main event of UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Nov. 14. After that, the line gets messy.
Volkov is coming off a win over Rizvan Kuniev, and MMA Junkie described his recent stretch as a 7-1 run. Alex Pereira is scheduled to fight Sergei Pavlovich, called a top title contender in that same report, in December. Former champion Tom Aspinall is still sidelined, recovering from an eye injury.
Run through those names and ask a simple question. Who is ready, healthy, and coming off a win right now? Aspinall can’t fight, and his eye has to answer before anyone can plan around him. Pereira and Pavlovich haven’t fought each other yet, so neither has won anything in that pairing. Volkov has already done his part. He beat Kuniev, he’s 7-1 across his recent fights, and he doesn’t need a December result to make his argument.
That matters to me because heavyweight has a habit of handing title shots to whoever is loudest or newest. Pereira is a huge name, and a win over Pavlovich would give him a real claim. But a booking is just a booking. If the UFC lines up the Gane vs. Hokit winner with whoever wins in December, it asks the champion to wait on a result while a contender who already finished his work sits idle. Seven wins in eight fights is a body of work. A December matchup on paper isn’t.
The tenure argument
Walker’s own case for Volkov was about time served. He’s been in the division for how long, Walker asked, and then answered his own question by calling him the toughest guy on the planet. That’s a teammate’s flourish, sure, but the instinct underneath it is sound. Volkov has spent his career doing heavyweight’s hardest job, which is staying in the top tier fight after fight without falling apart. A 7-1 run is how a contender earns a shot through repetition instead of one viral knockout, and fighters who build that kind of record rarely get rewarded quickly.
Walker didn’t oversell it, either. He didn’t promise Volkov would win, and he didn’t trash anyone else in the picture. He just said it was Volkov’s time, which is about as plain as a title argument gets.
The awkward part
There’s a wrinkle Walker clearly doesn’t want to touch yet. He’s now 2-0 at heavyweight, and if he keeps winning, he and Volkov end up on the same side of the bracket. Asked whether he’d ever fight his teammate, Walker closed the door politely.
“Not to talk about this yet,” he said. “We need to have a conversation in private first.”
I respect that answer more than a bold no or a cocky yes. It sounds like a man who knows the gym relationship is worth more than a headline, and who understands that a friendship between two big men who punch each other for a living deserves a conversation behind closed doors before it reaches a press table. For now their paths are far apart. Walker is new to the weight class, and Volkov is standing at the front of the line.
How Walker sees Saturday
Walker wouldn’t pick a winner for UFC 334, though his breakdown was specific. He called Gane a very tough guy with very good striking, then said he’s “100 percent sure that Josh Hokit is a better wrestler.” To him, the fight goes to whoever sticks to the plan. He compared it to his own win over Waldo, whom he described as a boxer hunting big punches. Walker said even when his opponent got on top, he couldn’t do much, so Walker relaxed and waited for the space to escape.
“Whoever implements the game better, you’re going to be the winner,” Walker said.
That applies to the matchmakers, too. The cleanest plan is sitting in plain view. Let Gane and Hokit settle it at the Garden on Nov. 14, let Pereira and Pavlovich sort out the December fight, and give the Saturday winner the man who already took care of Rizvan Kuniev.
