Johnny Walker says Jon Jones 'was saved by my celebration': 'I could beat him'

The Brazilian, who stopped Waldo Cortes-Acosta in the UFC Vegas 124 main event on Saturday, told The Ariel Helwani Show he does not regret it.

By Combat Sports UK Staff · Published Mon 9 Nov, 22:09 UK · AI-assisted reporting

Johnny Walker speaking to The Ariel Helwani Show — Photo: The Ariel Helwani Show

Johnny Walker says the injury from his celebration, and the surgery that followed, took away his winning run, his movement and his hype, and that without it he could have beaten Jon Jones.

Helwani said that when Walker first emerged, everyone thought he might "be the guy who beats Jon Jones", and asked whether fans had still not seen the best version of him.

"Oh yeah, 100%," Walker said. "Jon Jones was saved by my celebration because I got hurt and then take off my straight wins and my, my movement, you know, my hype, because I hurt myself and I took, you know, the surgery and I broke myself a little bit and take a long time to come back from the surgery, you know."

He added: "So I knew if I keep... if I didn't hurt myself, keep training, keep doing everything, I could beat him, you know. But it is what it is. I'm happy for my career, but doesn't matter now. I'm doing my own path and I have a great future ahead of me still, and I'm very excited for that."

Asked whether the worm celebration, the surgery and the injury had bothered him for years, Walker said: "Yeah, I don't regret nothing, bro. Everything that happened to me was to make who I am today." He added: "I don't want to get hurt again. I don't want to do this sh*t again because that's no good feeling."

Walker did the worm again after stopping Waldo Cortes-Acosta with a head kick and punches in the third round of the UFC Vegas 124 main event in Las Vegas on Saturday. He is now 2-0 since moving up to heavyweight.

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Johnny Walker