Johnny Walker defeats Anthony Smith, improves win streak to three-straight at UFC on ABC 4
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us today, May 13, 2023, for UFC on ABC 4, going down live from the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Headlining the event is a clash of heavyweight contenders as no. 9 ranked kickboxing champion Jairzinho Rozenstruik (13-4) faces off with no. 12 ranked BJJ phenom Jailton Almeida (18-2) in the main event of the evening.
Co-headlining the event was a light-heavyweight affair between no. 5 ranked former title challenger Anthony Smith (36-17) and no. 7 ranked fellow finisher Johnny Walker (20-7).
This was Smith’s first appearance since losing to Magomed Ankalaev in July of last year, a fight he suffered an ankle injury in. Going into that fight Smith had won his last three-straight, all three wins via first round finish, while Walker came in on a two-fight win streak, each of those victories also coming via finish in round one.
Continue reading to see how our light-heavyweight co-main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Johnny Walker def. Anthony Smith via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Both men have success with their leg kicks in the early goings of this fight, and both are landing good punches. It does however appear that Walker’s punches have more impact on them; he hurts Smith early on in the first, though Smith fires right back in attempt to keep Walker off of him.
Smith then gets dropped to his knees with another punch later on in the first and ends up securing a takedown immediately following. It wasn’t pretty, and he ate a lot of punches in doing so, but he’s able to stay on top for the final minute of the opening stretch.
Round two was a bit less exciting, as they remained at striking range without landing anything substantial.
Walker really starts to take over in the third and final round, as he continues to batter the lead leg of Smith.
Throughout these three rounds, Walker landed 47 leg kicks, ranging from the inside and outside of Smith’s leg, and he also landed a number of oblique kicks. Smith just didn’t have an answer for them and was having a difficult time keeping upright as the fight went on.
Johnny Walker improves his win streak to three-straight by securing just the second decision victory of his 21-win career today at UFC on ABC 4.
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