Johnny Walker, who successfully stopped the Zhang Mingyang hype train Saturday in enemy territory, said there was no foul play early in the UFC Shanghai main event.
Walker, who hurt Mingyang with a devastating calf kick in round two before a barrage of punches forced the referee to end the match, told MMA Fighting he wasn’t faking a glove touch before a takedown attempt two seconds into the contest.
“We were practicing that all the time,” Walker said of the early takedown. “In fact, I didn’t fake anything. I went there with my hand up because we had already touched gloves before the fight started. Touch gloves, each one back to their corner, and I wasn’t even looking at his face anymore. I went there with my hand hanging and shot for a takedown. I didn’t go there to touch gloves.”
Walker shaved his mustache hours before heading to the arena, leaving only a beard that resembled Khamzat Chimaev’s look. Chimaev, too, immediately went for a takedown seconds into his UFC middleweight title bout with Dricus Du Plessis earlier this month.
That beard, Walker said, was an indication that his plan was to work on his wrestling at UFC Shanghai.
“[Mingyang] was tough, he was coming off a lot of wins, catching everybody in the first round,” Walker said. “He was really tough, very technical and tough on the feet. I wanted to take him down, do that game, but I shot an ugly takedown attempt, my head on the outside. He just moved to the side and I went through like a cow, then I pulled guard. I held him, defended a little bit, and went back to the feet again.”
“I have good wrestling, good jiu-jitsu, but I haven’t fought in a while,” he continued. “I had no timing either, but you’ll see me wrestle more going forward, doing more jiu-jitsu, taking people down. I have some takedowns, but I really had no timing. But I’m back now.”
Mingyang was landing the better strikes in round one, but Walker hung tight. The Brazilian veteran admits, however, that he feared for the worst.
“I thought to myself there, ’F*ck! If I take another one, it’s over,’” Walker said. “Circle, circle. Three or four seconds later I was recovered, I realized I was alright again. I recover very quickly. But if he came like crazy he could also get caught because I was aware of everything. … I got hit with some clean shots and didn’t go for all or nothing, wasn’t cornered or any of that. I would circle to the right side to breathe and recover. The punch landed and I would feel [dizzy]. Like, it wasn’t a knockdown, but the punch landed. I was very patient and mature in my strategy.”
Walker found ‘the path’ to victory in the first half of the second round, connecting a calf kick that forced Mingyang to retreat. Walker immediately landed another kick to the same spot, dropping Mingyang to the ground.
“He switched stances and I saw on his face that he felt it,” Walker said. “He must have broken a bone when I kicked, and I kicked there again. ‘That’s the path.’ I punched him so many times, brother, and he wouldn’t go out. A chin that big is pure muscle, I don’t know. I punched him, I elbowed him, hammerfists, and the referee wouldn’t stop the fight. And I kept hitting and hitting. Tough guy, brother. He was under me getting hit, but trying to get back up, resisting. I couldn’t knock him out [cold]. It was a hard fight, but thank God I won.”
Speaking on the broadcast’s post-fight show, Walker screamed “I have chin, motherf*ckers.” That, he said, was a message to the haters that criticize his ability to take a hit.
“I said that because everybody’s like, ‘Oh, he has a glass chin,’” Walker said. “These talkers that were never punched in the face. They don’t understand we have a life commitment with our careers. Our families depend on us. We train every day. It’s an investment for life here, and some fans talk a ton of crap [without] ever getting punched in the face. Instead of giving us support, because we deserve it. This is hard work, you know that.
“But these bums come talk crap at us when we get knocked out. We’re fighting the best in the world, brother. One punch from one of these guys can knock anyone out, you know? You saw that. I kicked him once and broke his leg. The bone must have touched the other bone and broke it. You saw he felt that, and I kicked again, and the fight was over with one kick. We hit really hard — not only me, but the guys I’m fighting.”
After the bout, before leaving the octagon at the Shanghai Indoor Stadium, Walker called out “the legendary Polish power” of former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz. Walker said he’s unsure when he will re-enter the cage, but volunteered to be part of UFC’s upcoming event in Brazil on Oct. 11.
“I want to fight again this year,” Walker said. “Maybe at UFC Rio, I don’t know. We’ll see. It could be at UFC Rio, it could be later — November, December. But I want to fight one more time this year, God willing.”
