Johnny Walker is ready for a change.<\/p>\n
The longtime Light Heavyweight contender will take on former title challenger Dominick Reyes<\/a> this weekend (Sat., April 11, 2026) on the main card of UFC 327<\/a> in a collision of ranked 205-pounders. Though it\u2019s a fight that could move either man closer to a title shot, Walker is still seriously considering a Heavyweight move at the next possible opportunity.<\/p>\n Standing at 6\u20195\u201d with an 82 inch reach, Walker is a big man, and the cut is no easy task.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m thinking about it because the diet has been rough,\u201d Walker told MMA Fighting<\/a>. \u201cIf there\u2019s an opportunity, if a heavyweight fight gets cancelled or anything, I\u2019m in.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition, Walker looks to his recent training sessions with former UFC Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou as inspiration for a Heavyweight move. The Brazilian knockout artist believes that if he can keep up with \u201cThe Predator\u201d while cutting weight, then surely a fully-fed version of Walker could do well in the biggest weight class.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been training with Francis Ngannou, sparring with him,\u201d Walker explained. \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 continued, \u201cIt\u2019d be way better [at heavyweight] because on a diet I can\u2019t train properly. I 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 For the record, I\u2019ve been banging the Walker-to-Heavyweight drum<\/a> since 2022, and indeed, this is not the first time<\/a> Walker has teased a Heavyweight move. After eight years on the roster, Walker may be ranked at No. 12, but he\u2019s not exactly considered an immediate title threat even if he defeats Dominick Reyes. Meanwhile, the Heavyweight division is weaker than ever, and perhaps a less restrictive diet and full hydration could bulk up that problematic Walker jawline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Johnny Walker is ready for a change. The longtime Light Heavyweight contender will take on former title challenger…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-593020","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-ufc-mma-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593020","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=593020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}