Johnnie Walker was a big underdog who clashed into the main event of rising Zhang Mingyang and UFC Shanghai, especially after losing the past two in knockouts, but he turned the table with his own TKO.
Walker tried to surprise Min Yan with a few seconds of the match, but the Chinese star reversed the position and ended up on top. Back on his feet, Walker showed a more conservative style – there were some flashy moves here and there – but the finish came after a timing calf kick in the second round, hurting Mingyan.
“I’ve been fighting the top 10 for six or seven years, fighting trained killers,” Walker told the UFC’s postwar show. “I’m also a trained murderer, so he has to worry because a man can get injured and knock him out and sleep.
Along with Shanghai brother Walter Walker, Johnny admitted that he was “emotional” after his first three fights unwinning run in the promotion. Training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas gave him confidence, but Walker felt that he couldn’t perform at his best after a 14-month layoff.
“I feel very good. I need a little more time to use my full game,” Walker said. “There’s no fight for a long time, a year, do you know? I’m a little shy and I can’t trust very much. So when I left him I held him. My takedown wasn’t very effective.
“In the second round, (i) start to get a little better, start moving, start to feel the fight. He takes me a good shot and I take three or five seconds.
When he returned to Wincolumn for the first time since May 2023 and defeated Anthony Smith a few months after winning Paul Craig and Ion Katilaba, Walker said he “don’t know” who will be who next.
“I was really focused on this Chinese guy,” Walker said. Walker holds an 8-6 UFC record in one contest. “I don’t even look at the rankings. I don’t care how the rankings are happening. Whatever the matchmaker does, I’ll accept it.”