Johnny Walker calls Waldo Cortes-Acosta 'a Christmas present' before UFC Vegas 124 main event

Walker took the heavyweight headliner on eight days' notice, five weeks after his flying-knee knockout of Mick Parkin, and says it is "already time to go for the belt".

Johnny Walker says his short-notice UFC Vegas 124 main event against Waldo Cortes-Acosta is "a Christmas present", and that "the meat fell on the plate of the biggest carnivore there is".

The pair got the call on eight days' notice when the original headliner, Sean Brady v Gabriel Bonfim, was cancelled after Brady was injured. Walker knocked out Mick Parkin with a flying knee on his heavyweight debut at UFC 332 in October.

"I'm hungry. I have two kids to feed at home now, so I have to be ready all the time," Walker told MMA Fighting.

"I asked for Derrick Lewis in January. I was planning to spend Christmas in Ireland with my wife's family," he continued. "Now it's even better. I get to fight now, and my year is taken care of. This is a Christmas present. Just need to get in a little more training, sharpen my hands a bit. The meat fell on the plate of the biggest carnivore there is."

Walker said he had not yet broken down Cortes-Acosta's fights, but the last one he watched was the knockout win over Lewis. "He's like a wall in front of you, so when you throw a jab, you're going to land it, right? But you can't really use that fight as a reference," he said. Cortes-Acosta has fought twice since, losing decisions to Alexander Volkov and Curtis Blaydes.

"He has heavy hands, he's a heavyweight, but he's never fought a guy like me, someone who moves, kicks, throws knees, elbows, has wrestling, has jiu-jitsu," Walker said. "I hope he comes prepared because I have a lot of weapons and I'm going to use all of them."

"Of course I'm big, athletic, and I have a huge advantage over anyone in the division at range because I'm big and I can kick, punch, and move," he added.

Walker now trains with Volkov in Las Vegas and said the heavyweight will likely be in his corner at the Meta APEX. Cortes-Acosta has said that at light heavyweight "everybody knock him out", and that he will "break the head right away". He weighed 262lb to Walker's 239lb on Friday.

A win would make Walker 2-0 at heavyweight a week before Ciryl Gane defends his title against Josh Hokit. "It's already time to go for the belt," Walker said. "If the opportunity comes, I'll take it. But if not, I'm also willing to wait another year or two."

The prelims start at 10pm UK time on Saturday, with the main card from 1am on Sunday.

READ NEXTWaldo Cortes-Acosta wants Josh Hokit's teeth: 'the whole f***ing mouth, that dirty mouth'Read the next story →

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