Johnny Walker arrived in the UFC in 2019 with a bang, winning his first three fights in spectacular fashion: all via wild knockout, all earning him a Performance of the Night bonus. But things took a turn for the worse from there. He would win some, he would lose some. He would hurt himself performing a worm.
He is now 1-3-1 over his last five and was eliminated in the original preliminary round UFC 332 this Saturday October 3rd he faces UK heavyweight Mick Parkin 10-1. Walker hopes the move from light heavyweight to heavyweight will make a big difference based on how much the cut affected his life and training camp.
“It’s weird because I usually suffer a lot,” Walker told MMA Fighting’s Jose Youngs. “It’s not hard, but it’s a lot of work I have to do for a light heavyweight. And now it’s just normal life.”
“When I was at light heavyweight, one month before a fight, like the last three weeks you can train, I couldn’t,” Walker explained. “When you feel like everything (goes) dark, I’d be like, ‘Wait, wait, wait.’ We’d have to wait in the middle of the junk. It’s not my heart or my breath. Everything just goes black. Like (ringing in the ears) and dizziness. And then let’s go, back to sparring. It’s crazy, isn’t it?”
“Now I can train hard until the last week. Even this week I can train with someone. I don’t have to (wait) anymore. I’m ready, just the technique. I do the strategy, the technique. Nothing hurts and nothing is depleted. No glycogen. I’m full of glycogen in my body. I’m ready to perform, so I’m very excited to start the show.”
Walker’s heavyweight debut was originally slated to go down on August 1 in Belgrade, but the opponent’s injury has given him two more months to settle into the weight class. We’ll see how the new division stacks up for him when he meets Parkin this Saturday in Salt Lake City, Utah.