There may be a newfound home for Johnny Walker at heavyweight, as he takes out Waldo Cortes-Acosta in a third-round finish that headlined UFC Vegas 124.
Walker landed a series of leg kicks to open things up, but Cortes-Acosta looked to chase him down, threatening with his powerful right. Cortes-Acosta got Walker near the fence about 75 seconds into the fight, and he sat Walker down with a small flurry. After some exchanging along the fence, Walker continued to chew up WCA’s legs with kicks, while avoiding the incoming pressure and power attacks.
After both swung away to end round one, both men looked to show off their power in the second round. Walker put Cortes-Acosta off balance with a spinning elbow, but WCA made Walker feel his power with a right. Cortes-Acosta’s striking seemed to take over, controlling the fight over a tiring Walker on the ground.
Cortes-Acosta continued to come forward in round three. Despite a couple of flashy strike attempts from Walker, Cortes-Acosta managed to put Walker against the fence. But Walker turned things around for good when he landed a head kick and a left backfist, stumbling Cortes-Acosta.
WCA went backward as Walker landed a brutal right hand that dropped him, followed by one more right hand on the ground that put Cortes-Acosta out cold.
Walker made his heavyweight debut last month at UFC 332, knocking out Mick Parkin.
The two headlined this card following the scrapping of Sean Brady vs. Gabriel Bonfim due to a leg injury for Brady.
