Walker says heavyweight life is easy against Cortes Acosta

Johnny Walker says heavyweight life is easy against Waldo Cortes Acosta. He told UFC.com.

At light heavyweight Walker cut calories in the month of the fight, got dizzy, could not train properly, and picked up injuries, and at heavyweight he eats enough to recover and has fewer injuries. Walker feels stronger on those meals, he gets tired even less than he did before, and he says he can fight five or ten rounds.

Walker took the short-notice main event on Saturday, November 7, at 265 pounds (120 kg) at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, UFC Vegas 124, which the card story books after Sean Brady withdrew from the welterweight main event against Gabriel Bonfim.

Walker had planned to go step by step, train, and make a plan. He said God had different plans, the bout fell on his plate, and he was ready because he trains all year and has to be ready 365 days a year to feed his family and pay his bills, without a three-month camp, anytime, anywhere, and against any opponent.

Walker is 34, the UFC header lists him at 23-10-0, and the fighter facts list one no contest inside a 5-3 run in his last nine, on a stretch in which he has won 15 of his last 23. He is 78 inches (198 cm), with an 82-inch (208 cm) reach and a 44.5-inch (113 cm) leg reach. The UFC athlete page lists 240 pounds (109 kg). The fighter card lists 242 pounds (110 kg). Eighteen of the wins are knockouts, three are submissions, a guillotine and two rear-naked chokes, and two are decisions, with 18 first-round finishes, two second-round finishes, and one third-round finish, and six of those finishes came inside a minute, at 0:15, 0:29, 0:38, 0:38, 0:49, and 0:56.

Belford Roxo, in Rio de Janeiro, is his birthplace. Walker trains at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. The UFC athlete page still lists SBG Ireland, the gym he left in 2025. He turned pro in 2013, earned a degree in engineering, worked as an engineer, holds a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, was a UCMMA light heavyweight champion, a European Beatdown light heavyweight champion, and a CBJJO world champion at blue belt in the absolute and in his weight, and he has a son, Caio.

On October 3 Walker knocked out Mick Parkin at 3:35 of the first round at UFC 332 in Salt Lake City, took a performance bonus, and made his heavyweight debut. Dominick Reyes beat him by split decision at 5:00 of the third round at UFC 327 on April 11, and Walker stopped Zhang Mingyang with strikes at 2:37 of the second round on August 23, 2025. Volkan Oezdemir knocked him out at 2:28 of the first round on June 22, 2024, Magomed Ankalaev knocked him out at 2:42 of the second round on January 13, 2024, and an illegal knee made the first Ankalaev bout a no contest at 3:13 of the first round at UFC 294 on October 21, 2023.

Walker won a unanimous decision over Anthony Smith on May 13, 2023, stopped Paul Craig with strikes at 2:16 of the first round at UFC 283 on January 21, 2023, and submitted Ion Cutelaba with a rear-naked choke at 4:37 of the first round at UFC 279 on September 10, 2022. Jamahal Hill knocked him out at 2:55 of the first round on February 19, 2022, and Thiago Santos beat him by unanimous decision over five rounds on October 2, 2021. Ryan Spann fell to a knockout at 2:43 of the first round on September 19, 2020, Nikita Krylov beat Walker by unanimous decision on March 14, 2020, and Corey Anderson stopped him with strikes at 2:07 of the first round at UFC 244 on November 2, 2019.

Walker stopped Misha Cirkunov with strikes at 0:36 of the first round at UFC 235 on March 2, 2019, stopped Justin Ledet with strikes at 0:15 of the first round on February 2, 2019, and knocked out Khalil Rountree Jr. at 1:57 of the first round on November 17, 2018, the three straight stoppages that opened his UFC career, after a unanimous decision over Henrique da Silva on August 11, 2018, at Dana White’s Contender Series Brazil.

Walker lands 3.98 significant strikes per minute and absorbs 2.99, at 56 percent accuracy, 505 of 909, and he defends 46 percent of strikes. Standing accounts for 350 of them (69 percent), the clinch 44 (9 percent), and the ground 111 (22 percent), and he averages 0.35 takedowns per 15 minutes off six attempts, defends 57 percent of takedowns, averages 0.71 submission attempts and 0.71 knockdowns per 15 minutes, and his average fight time is 7 minutes and 3 seconds.

Cortes Acosta is 35 and 17-4. Nine of the wins are knockouts, one is a kimura, and seven are decisions, the four losses are unanimous decisions, he has won eight of his last 11, and in 2025 he fought five times and went 4-1 with three knockouts. He is 76 inches (193 cm), with a 78-inch (198 cm) reach and a 43.5-inch (110 cm) leg reach. The UFC athlete page lists 240 pounds (109 kg). The fighter card lists 262 pounds (119 kg). Fundacion, in Barahona in the Dominican Republic, is his birthplace. Cortes Acosta trains at UKF Gym in Phoenix, turned pro in 2018, started training in 2015, held the LFA heavyweight title and an RUF amateur title, and pitched as a semi-professional for the Cincinnati Reds. His coach named him Salsa Boy because he would come to practice and say he was going to salsa them up.

The media rankings list Cortes Acosta at No. 6 heavyweight and do not list Walker. The Meta rankings list Cortes Acosta at No. 8, which is the number in the UFC.com story, and they list Walker at No. 12.

Cortes Acosta lost a unanimous decision to Curtis Blaydes at 5:00 of the third round at Noche UFC on September 12, and he lost a unanimous decision to Alexander Volkov at 5:00 of the third round at UFC 328 on May 9. He stopped Derrick Lewis with strikes at 3:14 of the second round at UFC 324 on January 24, and that third straight win put him in the top five, after he knocked out Shamil Gaziev at 1:22 of the first round on November 22, 2025, in Qatar, on a couple of days’ notice, three weeks after he stopped Ante Delija with strikes at 3:59 of the first round on November 1 in Las Vegas.

Sergei Pavlovich beat Cortes Acosta by unanimous decision on August 23, 2025, Cortes Acosta won a unanimous decision over Serghei Spivac at UFC 316 on June 7, 2025, and he stopped Ryan Spann with strikes at 4:48 of the second round on March 15, 2025. He won unanimous decisions over Robelis Despaigne on May 11, 2024, and Andrei Arlovski on January 13, 2024, knocked out Lukasz Brzeski at 3:01 of the first round on August 26, 2023, lost a unanimous decision to Marcos Rogerio de Lima on April 29, 2023, and won unanimous decisions over Chase Sherman on November 19, 2022, and Jared Vanderaa on October 29, 2022, in his Octagon debut. On Dana White’s Contender Series he stopped Danilo Suzart with punches at 3:40 of the first round on August 2, 2022.

Cortes Acosta lands 5.03 significant strikes per minute and absorbs 3.44, at 48 percent accuracy, 830 of 1,745, and he defends 55 percent of strikes. Standing accounts for 720 of them (87 percent), the clinch 34 (4 percent), and the ground 76 (9 percent), and he averages 0.36 takedowns per 15 minutes off eight attempts, defends 70 percent of takedowns, averages 0.09 submission attempts and 0.64 knockdowns per 15 minutes, and his average fight time is 11 minutes.

Walker said Cortes Acosta is a good athlete and a good boxer, a little well-rounded, and that boxing is the specialty, with quick jabs and overhands that Walker wants on the guard. Walker said his two options are to finish the fight or to finish the fight, and he wants to be smart, quick, and efficient, to spend less energy, to make Cortes Acosta spend energy, and to take a punch, a kick, an elbow, or a takedown when the opening appears.

The co-main is Tatiana Suarez against Virna Jandiroba at 115 pounds (52 kg). The media rankings list Suarez at No. 2 and Jandiroba at No. 3, the Meta rankings list Jandiroba at No. 2 and Suarez at No. 3, and both are making a case for a shot at Mackenzie Dern.

Start time

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