by UFC Fight Night: Cortes-Acosta vs. Walker (also known as UFC Fight Night 293 and UFC Vegas 124) took place tonight at the Meta Apex in Enterprise, Nevada. It was filled with big moments and impactful results that may slightly alter the short term and even long term direction of several divisions.
Here are just a few of the results and moments that jumped off the page to us.
With a 3rd round knockout of Walso Cortes Acosta in the main event tonight. Johnny Walker is suddenly a contender, once again, this time at heavyweight. After 4 straight wins in the Light Heavyweight Division upon debuting in the UFC in August of 2018, the bottom seemed to fall out for Walker as he proceeded to lose 7 of his next 13 fights with a NC in the mix as well. He then decided to go back to Heavyweight, his pre-UFC weight class in an attempt for a career rebirth.
It has worked as he won on October 3rd at UFC 332 and now again tonight via 3 round knockout in the main event over Waldo Cortes Acosta. Long story short, he switched back to heavyweight and now has 2 KO’s in just 34 days. If Walker can ride this wave to a title shot, he may not only be the next great Disney sports movie, but he could gold around his waist soon enough.
Walker was once seen as the next big thing at Light Heavyweight and fell into a fold where he couldn’t win the big fights against the big names, it appears he may have another shot at it in a weight class that badly needs a spark. An exciting side note, Walker now has 24 career wins, with 20 of them by knockout and the other 4 by submission. Walker finishes fights!
The judges were kept busy tonight as 7 of the 14 fights, 50%, went to the cards. Of the 7 fights that saw finishes, 6 of the 7 ended in KO’s while only one at a had submission. This made submission of the night a default winner in Austin Bashi who submitted Carlos Calderon in just 1:07 of the very first round. It wasn’t the quickest finish of the night however as Elijah Smith only needed 60 seconds to knockout Davey Grant on the main card.
Speaking of the main card, other big winners saw Tatiana Suarez defeat Virna Jandiroba by UD with scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. It was the third straight win for Suarez that also included a decision win over Amanda Lemos and then a thrilling rear naked choke submission win over Loopy Godinez back in April at UFC 327.
The only other female fight on the main card tonight witnessed Nina Milosevic defeat Priscilla Cachoeira via punches and elbows at 3:40 of the second round.
The UFC will now travel to the world-famous Madison Square Garden Arena, (MSG) next Saturday night. The card will be headlined by a UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between current champion Ciryl Gane and Josh Hokit. Both men recently fought at UFC Freedom 250.
The Co-Main Event is the one selling the bulk of tickets however as it features the greatest female fighter in MMA history, the returning Amanda Nunes who will challenge UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Kayla Harrison (who is also a 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medalist in judo; and a two-time PFL women’s lightweight tournament champion.
Finally, UFC 334 at MSG will also feature the retirement fight of UFC Welterweight Champion Challenger Stephen Thompson. Thompson has lost 3 in a row and 5 of his last 6 as his career winds down next Saturday versus Chales Radtke. Other UFC veterans Drew Dober and Jim Miller will also appear on the card.
