Johnny Walker, like many fighters before him, eagerly boarded the Cannabidiol (CBD) train.
Unfortunately for the UFC light heavyweight, the cannabis chemical — made popular for providing the health benefits of marijuana without the side effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — triggered an allergy that caused extreme (and adverse) psychological reactions.
Like schizophrenia.
“I had no idea, and only found out four or five months ago, that CBD has a small amount of THC in it, a small percentage, and I’m extremely allergic to THC,” Walker told Trocação Franca (via MMA Fighting). “It gives me schizophrenia, panic attack. I was getting drugged every single day for the last three years and didn’t know. It’s not strong, it’s a small percentage, but my brain is super sensitive for those substances and I didn’t know.”
CBD has trace amounts of THC, sort of how decaf coffee still retains negligible levels of caffeine, but not enough for World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to keep it on the list of banned substances. That said, CBD is no different from any other health supplement and should be sourced responsibly.
“I was having arguments with my fiancée all the time, thinking of a bunch of crap, I wasn’t acting like my real self,” Walker continued. “It was affecting me a lot and I had no idea what it was. The more anxious I got, the more CBD I took, thinking ‘this shit will help me calm down,’ and was drugging me more with the poison. I’m not saying [CBD] is like that for everybody, it’s good for anxiety, but not for me, who has hyperactivity (ADHD). THC wasn’t good [for me] and I didn’t know.”
What impact his turnaround will have at the UFC 279 pay-per-view (PPV) event remains to be seen. Walker, 30, will look to snap a two-fight losing streak when he collides with 205-pound “Hulk” Ion Cutelaba this Sat. night (Sept. 10, 2022) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and try to recapture the form that once had Jon Jones looking over his shoulder.
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