Johnny Walker discusses his upcoming fight against Anthony Smith
Johnny Walker wants to be a UFC champion and he’s fully aware that on Saturday at UFC Charlotte he has a chance to get himself into a great position within the UFC’s light heavyweight division.
This weekend Walker will fight in the co-main event against former title challenger Anthony Smith. Smith and Walker come into the fight ranked fifth and seventh in the official UFC light heavyweight rankings and he winner should only be one or two fights away from a title shot.
The fight has fans buzzing and good reason.
Smith is a fan favorite and has been steady in his career. Right now, he’s won three of his past four fights and he wants to get another title shot in long career in which Saturday will mark fight No. 54 of his professional career,
Meanwhile, Walker was once a highly ranked prospect who quickly got into title contention, but then suffered a tough stretch in which he lost three of four fights.
Those days though, appear to be behind Walker.
For the past three years, Walker has been training at SBG Ireland and it has been a game changing move.
In Walker’s last two fights, he’s looked incredible and now fans and media members are starting to once again put Walker into the future champion category.
Back at UFC 279 in 2022, Walker submitted Ion Cutelaba and then he followed that up with another stoppage win in the start of 2023 when he knocked out Paul Craig in the opening round of their UFC 283 fight.
Walker credits both of those wins to the work he’s getting in Ireland. He feels his ground game and his stand up are the best they’ve ever been and now he’s well rounded in aspect of the sport.
In fact, when talking about his currently winning streak, he doesn’t think anything about momentum being on side. He feels the work he puts into every fight gives him an advantage and he’s finally at peace when he fights as he knows win or lose he’s always fully prepared for a fight.
Prior to UFC Charlotte, Walker spoke with MyMMANews about his upcoming co-main event fight with Smith, his current two-fight winning streak, his training at SBG Ireland and recently getting married.
You can watch his full interview in the video above.
