Jump Knees And Spinning Fists: The Johnny Walker Strategy

Light Heavyweight wildcard, Johnny Walker, will face off once again with Dagestani wrestler, Magomed Ankalaev, this Saturday (Jan. 13, 2024) at UFC Vegas 84 from UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The rebirth of patient Johnny Walker seems to be working after some initial hiccups. His first bout versus Ankalaev ended too early because of a “No Contest” to draw any real conclusions, but his prior three-fight win streak was significant. It proved viability in Walker’s approach, and the fact that he finished two of those three wins was a positive sign as well. Whether or not the adjustment is enough to score him a coveted UFC title shot? That remains to be seen, but Walker would have a strong case if victorious here.

Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:

Striking

Walker’s standup is known for a couple of things. He’ll try wild offense and has a gift for timing those connections — like this article’s namesake flying knees and spinning backfists — but he’ll now also hang back and try to force a lower volume distance kickboxing battle.

The shift to the latter strategy began against Thiago Santos and saw Walker attempting to maximize his range. The Light Heavyweight stands at 6’6” with an 82-inch reach, so that’s not a terrible idea by any means. Rather than do big damage with jump knees, however, Walker was extremely content to hang back behind his kicks. Mostly, he worked with the inside low kick and front kick. Any time the two engaged, Walker was looking for his check hook.

There were certainly growing pains. In this bout, Walker was a bit predictable and reluctant to pull the trigger. In 2023, however, he showed off the improved version against Anthony Smith. He was able to consistently damage the veteran’s calf, and subsequently, felt more confident in his punches when the two did work in the pocket.

Historically, Walker is a fighter who explodes at range and in the clinch, avoiding that middle range. Overall, Walker has yet to show much depth in the way of a traditional boxing game. He’ll occasionally stick out a seriously hard jab or fire off an overhand, but mostly, Walker does not pursue exchanges with his opponents.

Instead, Walker wants to fight from his kickboxing distance, which is typically longer than his opponent’s. At this range, Walker has a lot of weapons. He can blast long round kicks with the best of them, but Walker will also look to stomp his foe’s knee with low side kicks. He’s also played around with jumping kicks and worked some trickery that involves chambering the knee then firing to different directions.

This is a big man, so all those kicks hurt. Hang out at distance with Walker for too long, and a jump knee may just end the night (GIF).

In truth, Walker does his absolute best work as his foes try to close the distance in one way or another. It’s very true that Walker is not the hardest to hit as he fades away from exchanges, but he almost always lands himself too. As Walker’s foe presses forward, the Brazilian will look to time him with a switch-stance check hook, jump knee, or spinning backfist.

Of course, opponents know that Walker is looking to counter any over-aggression or rushed charge. Walker still manages to force this reaction often though, and part of that is due to the aforementioned effectiveness of his kicks. In addition, Walker can really throw opponents off with his confusing actions.

Walker will make funny faces and other displays of bravado. At times, he’ll start frantically feinting, bobbing and weaving and shifting his shoulders like a child overdosed on sweets. This off-beat, strange movement can freeze his opponents or convince them to lunge forward with a big punch — exactly what Walker wants!

Perhaps the most clear double-edged sword in Walker’s arsenal is his reaction to being pressed off kicks. Several times in his short UFC career, opponents have managed to stun Walker by passing his kick to the side then stepping through with a power punch. Future Walker foes would be well-advised, however, to keep their non-punching hand glues to their chin, because Walker loves to spin into a backfist/elbow when opponents attempt this strategy.

One way or another, someone is probably getting hurt (GIF).

Whether he initiates or is defending a grappling attempt, Walker is positively violent in close quarters exchanges. He really excels at doing big damage given even small opportunities, and his Muay Thai experience often shines through.

Walker made his UFC debut in style thanks to his clinch skills. After stunning Khalil Rountree with a high kick, Walker immediately latched onto the double-collar tie. Rountree tried to punch his way out, but Walker countered by really cranking on his opponent’s neck and keeping tight pressure.

Stuck in the Muay Thai plum, Rountree showed a bit of inexperience from that position. Rather than reaching outside of Walker’s grip and grabbing the head — probably the most common defense to a single- or double-collar tie — Rountree kept his arm low to block the potential knee and tried to shuck off the grip with his elbow. As a result, there was nothing preventing Walker from winding up an elbow and delivering it directly to the side of Rountree’s skull (GIF).

In his last bout versus Ankalaev, Walker did show one interesting look against the Southpaw. Copying Jan Blachowicz, he was wisely attacking the inner calf of his opponent, but naked low kicks aren’t the safest weapon. To keep Ankalaev from rushing him, he was firing his right hand while reseting his stance, and at least a couple of those crosses connected as Ankalaev looked to pressure through his kicks.

Wrestling

Walker is not known for his offensive wrestling, but he has scored a recent pair of takedowns against Anthony Smith and Ion Cutelaba. In both cases, his opponent initiated the wrestling, but Walker was able to reverse along the fence and gain top position in the process.

Takedown defense is historically a hit-or-miss topic with Walker. He’s defended a fair number of shots, but getting outwrestled was the cause of consecutive losses in 2019/2020. Against Corey Anderson, Walker was at least rocked prior to getting wrestled, but Nikita Krylov was much more straightforward in his grinding wrestling strategy. Early on, Walker did well to use to the fence, spreading out his base and fighting hands. However, his use of the Travis Browne-style elbows to counter takedowns is another double-edged sword moment for the Brazilian. On one hand, he was able to knock out Ryan Spann in a fight he was otherwise losing. Against Krylov, however, the tough Ukranian endured the elbows and used his foe’s movement as an opportunity to lock his hands and complete double leg takedowns.

In general, Walker’s defense deteriorated further as he fatigued. Early in the fight, Krylov really couldn’t drag his foe down, whereas in the second half of the bout, Krylov’s trips and single legs worked much more effectively.

Outlasting Cutelaba is one thing, but Ankalaev’s wrestling attack over five rounds will be a serious challenge for the Brazilian.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

A jiu-jitsu brown belt, Walker certainly has mat skills, even if they don’t often come into play. He did score his first UFC tapout win recently against Cutelaba, however, so let’s break that down.

Walker was taken down early, but he managed to escape out the back door during a scramble. As Cutelaba stood up, Walker retained a lock around his waist, then slammed him to the floor with a big lift. In that moment of impact, Walker threw both hooks in to secure back mount.

With Walker on his back, Cutelaba tried to reach down and fight the feet to escape — a risky strategy. All the same, Walker did well to maintain control as his opponent tried to explode, shifting his body and hips to maintain good chest-to-back connection. It was actually a handful of punches that opened up the neck, allowing Walker to force a palm-to-palm strangle.

In the matches where he’s been outwrestled, Walker has actually shown some nice guard work! When able to secure full guard, the Brazilian was active in throwing up his legs in pursuit of armbars and triangles, the latter of which was at least fairly tight at one point in the bout against Krylov. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to hang onto the triangle choke when tired and sweaty. Perhaps Walker’s best moment from his back was a nice reversal from half guard, which came about by kicking off the fence at an opportune time.

Walker did run into a couple problems on the mat vs. “Miner.” For one, he did not find a good answer to the leg triangle, spending large portions of the fight with his legs wrapped up by Krylov’s. Additionally, in the couple moments where Walker did manage to gain top position in scrambles, his focus on jumping the back immediately or landing big shots allowed Krylov to hustle his way back into top position.

Conclusion

Walker remains an incredible gifted athlete at 205 pounds. If he his game can fully synthesize to take advantage of his gifts without putting himself in bad position, there’s still a chance that Walker can threaten even the best Light Heavyweights on the roster.

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Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.

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