Johnny Walker stops Waldo Cortes-Acosta, then says: 'F*ck everybody who said I had no chin'
Walker was dropped in the first round before a head kick turned the UFC Vegas 124 main event, making him 2-0 since moving up to heavyweight.
Johnny Walker stopped Waldo Cortes-Acosta with a head kick and punches at 2:27 of the third round in the UFC Vegas 124 main event at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, then turned on everyone who had doubted his chin.
"Thank you," Walker shouted in the octagon after the win. "Without a heavy guy like this who could take a punch, it wouldn't be a good fight. F*ck everybody who said I had no chin. Who don't have a chin now? This was just to prove to everyone."
Before the fight, Cortes-Acosta had said that at light heavyweight "everybody knock him out" and called Walker "easy to hit" (read more). Walker has been knocked out or stopped four times in the UFC, by Corey Anderson, Jamahal Hill, Magomed Ankalaev and Volkan Oezdemir.
Walker went after Cortes-Acosta's legs with kicks from the opening seconds, but a punch put him down against the fence in the first round and he got straight back up. Cortes-Acosta ended the second round on top of Walker on the ground.
In the third, Walker hurt Cortes-Acosta with a head kick, dropped him with a right hand and finished it with follow-up shots.
Walker took the fight on eight days' notice after Sean Brady pulled out of his welterweight main event with Gabriel Bonfim injured. He is now 2-0 at heavyweight, having knocked out England's Mick Parkin on his debut at UFC 332 in October (read more).
Cortes-Acosta, No. 6 in the UFC heavyweight rankings going in, has now lost three in a row, after decision defeats to Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov.
Volkov was in Walker's corner, and Walker said the pair will be in New York next week to watch the heavyweight title fight, Ciryl Gane against Josh Hokit at UFC 334.
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Reported by the Combat Sports UK desk. Times are UK and Irish time, and we update the report when the facts change. How we work.