Johnny Walker faces one-time title challenger Dominick Reyes in a crucial bout in the UFC light heavyweight division on the main card portion of UFC 327 this Saturday in Miami, and there\u2019s a chance his next bout is in a different weight class.<\/p>\n
Confident in his return to action eight months after a second-round upset over Zhang Mingyang in Shanghai, where he knocked out the Chinese prospect in enemy territory, Walker revealed he\u2019s tired of feeling \u201cdepleted\u201d by the cut to 205 pounds and could soon go to heavyweight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thinking about it because the diet has been rough,\u201d Walker told MMA Fighting. \u201cIf there\u2019s an opportunity, if a heavyweight fight gets cancelled or anything, I\u2019m in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walker now lives and trains in Las Vegas, working alongside former UFC champions Sean Strickland and Francis Ngannou, and feels that his size and skills would do just fine at heavyweight after sharing the cage with \u201cThe Predator\u201d in the gym.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been training with Francis Ngannou, sparring with him,\u201d Walker said. \u201cEven while dieting, with about a 44-pound difference since I\u2019m much lighter now, I\u2019ve been able to train with him just fine. Even in wrestling, strength, and ground-and-pound. If I can do that while dieting, imagine without it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Walker won eight of 15 UFC bouts as a light heavyweight, piling up a list of wins that includes past title challengers Khalil Rountree Jr. and Anthony Smith, and feels that his performance is somewhat limited after forcing his body down to 205 pounds on the week of the fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be way better [at heavyweight] because on a diet I can\u2019t train properly,\u201d Walker said. \u201cI get dizzy, low on energy because of the lack of carbs. I can\u2019t wait to move up and be able to train at 100 percent, even close to the fight. When a heavyweight is fighting on the same card as me and I see them training during fight week, doing all kinds of stuff, and I\u2019m there depleted, no energy, it\u2019s tough. But\u2026 I\u2019m going to move up. It won\u2019t take long.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have more experience now,\u201d he added, explaining why he\u2019s finally ready for the move. \u201cI\u2019m better technically, and physically, too. I\u2019m reaching my prime. This weight cut doesn\u2019t make any difference to me anymore. Francis has to cut to make 265, he walks around heavier than that, and I trained with him, sparred with him and everything, even while dieting. And the guy is elite, a former world champion. I did two five-minute rounds with Sean Strickland, a former champion, and then one with Francis, also a former champion. It was smooth. I didn\u2019t feel much difference in strength. It\u2019s a very real possibility. I\u2019ll try to fight in both divisions. Whatever comes up, I\u2019ll take it. I just want to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walker said his next bout could already be at heavyweight \u201cif it\u2019s an interesting\u201d offer, but still wants to chase the 205-pound belt. Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg face off for the vacant throne on the same night Walker battles Reyes in Miami.<\/p>\n
\u201cDepending on what fight they offer me next, if everything goes right, I\u2019ll still have two or three more fights at 205,\u201d Walker said. \u201cBut I\u2019m definitely very close to moving up to heavyweight as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reyes was on a roll in the UFC with consecutive victories over Dustin Jacoby, Anthony Smith and Nikita Krylov, but suffered a first-round knockout against Ulberg this past September. Walker said he will use \u201ccontrolled violence\u201d to beat Reyes at UFC 327.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a very experienced, tough guy,\u201d Walker said. \u201cHe fought Jon Jones and, in my opinion, he beat Jones. And I\u2019m ready. It\u2019s going to be a great test for me. If I get past him, it\u2019ll show I can fight in the top 5, top 2. One or two more fights and it\u2019s a title shot, you know? If it were up to me, I\u2019d already be fighting for the belt right after this win. Everyone\u2019s gotten their opportunity. Khalil Rountree was No. 8 and fought for the belt, you know? The key is how I finish this fight. Depending on my performance, it could give me a lot of momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Johnny Walker faces one-time title challenger Dominick Reyes in a crucial bout in the UFC light heavyweight division…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-592392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}