UFC 319 may be over, but the action in the Octagon does not stop this month. This coming Saturday, the promotion returns to Shanghai for its first event in mainland China for the first time since 2019.
In the light heavyweight main event, surging hometown hero Mingyang Zhang looks to take his ascension to the next level against veteran Johnny Walker. In a division that has historically been dominated by Americans and Brazilians, as well as the occasional European, having an Asian contender like him will be unprecedented.
The fight, however, is more important for Walker. Coming off the longest winless stretch of his career, he may potentially be fighting for his UFC future.
To understand how Walker got here, one must first look back at how he got into the UFC.
In 2018, the promotion decided to host a Brazil-centric version of Dana White’s Contenders Series besides its original American-centric edition. Walker defeated former Octagon veteran Henrique da Silva in Week 2. He did not get the explosive knockout that had defined most of his career by then, but a convincing decision win was enough to earn him a contract.
Then came one of the most destructive starts in UFC history. In his debut, Walker ended future title challenger Khalil Rountree Jr. with a standing elbow and got a bonus. Justin Ledet was the next to fall, this time via a spinning backfist. Then exactly four weeks later, Misha Cirkunov ate a flying knee and was promptly pounced on.
Suddenly, light heavyweight had a young, exciting contender; and the hype reached peak levels when Walker was booked against Corey Anderson at Madison Square Garden. A main-card fight at a premier venue – he could not have asked for a bigger chance to break into the elite.
Instead, it did not go well – Walker was knocked out in the first round. That would set the tone for the rest of his Octagon tenure – too good to fall off the rankings, but not good enough to become an elite contender either.
Eventually, even that notion hit a critical point. In his last fight, Walker was matched up against Volkan Oezdemir. It was winnable – a former challenger who had his fair share of tough losses against some of the best. Again, it instead did not go well – he was knocked out in the first round.
This leads back to the present – Walker, coming off the worst stretch of his career, gatekeeping against a young, hungry prospect in enemy territory.
Zhang had a rather middling start to his career, going just 7-6 in his first 13 fights and even going through two two-fight skids. Then, sometime in 2020, he entered a one-night tournament and won it in dominant fashion – the final bout lasted less than a minute.
Suddenly, Zhang was starting to gain a little more exposure. The UFC eventually signed him in 2022 off of the Road to UFC feeder program; and like Walker, he would collect three bonus-winning knockouts. The last of them came against former challenger Anthony Smith, ending “Lionheart”‘s career on a sad note but also propelling “Mountain Tiger” to the rankings for the first time.
The nation of China has been experiencing a remarkable rise in its MMA and UFC prospects. Weili Zhang has been historically successful as a two-time strawweight champion, and Xiaonan Yan has also been fantastic as a contender in the same division.
Both of them, however, are 36 and do not have much time left in the sport. So is flyweight Cong Wang, who is already 33. Bantamweight contender Yadong Song is still young at 27, but he has yet to find his groove. Thus, it is imperative for Dana White to find another Chinese star.
Zhang may be that person, but expect Walker to try to stop that for his own sake…
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