After suffering two straight knockout losses, Johnny Walker turned the tables with a surprising knockout win against Mingyang Zhang in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Shanghai early Saturday.
Chinese light heavyweight Zhang entered the night on an impressive 12-fight winning streak, including a streak of nine straight first-round knockouts. Zhang controlled the first round but Walker employed a different strategy in the second round that focused on kicks to the calf. He connected on two powerful calf kicks, the second of which sent Zhang to the mat, where Walker finished him off at 2:37 of the round.
For Zhang, 27, it was his first MMA loss since 2019 and the first time one of his bouts went to the second round since 2018.
After the match, Walker, a 33-year-old from Brazil, touted his own work, saying, “My kick is awesome, right?” while also expressing respect for the man who shared the headlining match for the first UFC event in China in six years.
“A tough fighter from China, a lot of straight wins,” he said. “It’s a really good experience to fight a guy that’s very tough. You see, I’m durable. I got some punches in the face today and I keep coming. And then I got him. This is MMA. Amazing, right?”
Walker (22-9, 1 NC) is ranked No. 13 in the official UFC rankings, and Zhang (19-7) is No. 14.
In the co-main event, Aljamain Sterling easily beat Brian Ortega with a unanimous decision in five decisive rounds (50-45, 50-45, 50-45).
The two-time featherweight title challenger Ortega (16-5, 1 NC) was unable to make the division’s 146-pound weight limit, so the fight was held at a 153-pound catchweight. However, Ortega landed just seven percent of his strikes (2 of 28) in the first round and could never quite catch up with former bantamweight champion Sterling (25-5).
In a matchup of heavyweights, Russia’s Sergei Pavlovich (20-3) came out on top of Dominican Waldo Cortes-Acosta (14-2) after a strong third round (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).
–Field Level Media
