UFC light heavyweight Johnny Walker is aiming to become the champion by April, and is preparing for a rematch against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC Vegas 84, hoping a victory could put him in the title mix.
Johnny Walker, the MMA fighter, has a plan. He’s eyeing the UFC light heavyweight title by April. Currently, he’s working hard to make this dream a reality.
He’s up against Magomed Ankalaev in UFC Vegas 84’s main event this Saturday. It’s a rematch from UFC 294, which ended abruptly due to an illegal knee. Now, the stakes are higher.
The light heavyweight division didn’t have a champion back then. But things changed when Alex Pereira claimed the vacant title against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295. Walker thinks he could get into the title mix with a win over Ankalaev, a former title challenger.
Jamahal Hill won the vacant belt in January 2022. But he had to give it up due to injury. It’s still up in the air if he’ll recover in time to be Pereira’s next opponent.
Walker shared his thoughts on a podcast, Trocação Franca. He said, “I think Jamahal is ahead of me, and if he wants to fight [Pereira next], whatever. But if he can’t fight, I’ll do it. You have to respect those ahead of you, but if he can’t fight, I’ll take the spot and fight for the belt.”
Walker has his eyes on a match with Pereira. Ideally at UFC 300 on April 13. He said, “it will be a brawl.” Pereira lost the middleweight title to Israel Adesanya in early 2022 but made a remarkable comeback months later, beating Jan Blachowicz and Prochazka.
Walker knows he needs to be smart when facing Pereira. “The first to connect, [the other guy] goes down. It’s going to be an interesting fight if it happens — and I hope it does. I’m excited because the division is heating up again, there are plenty of interesting fights to book. I think it’s going to be a fun fight and everybody will enjoy watching. For sure, someone will get knocked out, so it’s going to be fun.”
Walker wasn’t surprised to see Pereira excel in the 205-pound division. He’s a big guy with lots of potential and a great striker. Walker even thinks Pereira could move up to heavyweight sometime.
Walker himself sees a switch to heavyweight as inevitable. “I don’t know if I could go down to middleweight [like Pereira did], but I’ll definitely fight at heavyweight one day. I’m the heaviest and tallest fighter in this division. I’m just passing by in this division, I won’t be able to make the weight for much longer. It will get harder as I get older, but I’m still young. It’s getting harder, but I can do it.”
Walker’s metabolism is good. So, hitting championship weight at 205 is relatively easy now. But, it’s still hard on his body as he needs to follow a strict diet during his camp. He’s fought as a heavyweight in Brazil before. But, he believes the current Walker would absolutely destroy the older, heavier version of himself.
He said, “It’s different when I can eat more calories. I’m stronger when I’m not on a diet mid-camp, I lift weight easier, I’m stronger. I can do better rounds. It’s energy, it’s different. If I fight at heavyweight one day, I’m excited to do that to see how it’s going to be to train and eat properly, to eat enough for my body to have energy to spend during training and fighting. I’m always on deficiency to keep my weight low. I’m never on my peak during camp. I’m only peaking on fight night when I’m done with the diet and the weight cut and I can eat, eat, and eat, and put all the energy in, so I feel like a monster on fight night.”