One-time title challenger Magomed Anklaev and the unpredictable Johnny Walker are both talking a good game ahead of Saturday’s Fight Night main event at light-heavyweight, but which contender will reign supreme once and for all this time around to banish the controversy from their UFC 294 matchup?
Ankalev wants statement win, insists Walker quit in October
- Ankalaev on his ambitions: “I believe 2024 is my year, and by the end, you’ll see that strap is around my waist. As the managers are telling me, basically if I win this fight, nobody else deserves the title run more than me.”
- Ankalaev (17-1-1, 1 NC) hasn’t lost a fight since a last-second defeat on his UFC debut via third-round submission against Paul Craig in March 2018
- Clear underdog Walker believes staying emotionless will prove his biggest key to victory: “I have no hate against him, emotion can maybe play against you… maybe you’re going to make a mistake. I’m going to be very technical, aggressive at the right moment, without emotion… like a robot, a machine. This is how you have to be so you don’t commit mistakes.”
In an alternate universe somewhere, Magomed Ankalaev (#3) is preparing for another title defence later this month against either Sean Strickland or Dricus du Plessis.
Instead before edging closer to another shot at championship gold the 31-year-old Russian must first run back a fight he was dangerously close to finishing three months prior – but for an illegal knee to a downed opponent – as Johnny Walker (#7) stands across from him once more this weekend. Yeah, you’d be upset too.
At Wednesday’s media day, he doubled down on the assertion Walker searched for a way out and found it after being faced with an uncompromising, dangerous situation with the ringside doctor advising referee Daniel Movahedi to stop the contest. He only did so after quizzing Walker, unsatisfied with the responses he was receiving.
“After that shot, he was actually the one trying to tell me that was an illegal blow – conscious enough and in his mind to say, ‘Hey dude, that was illegal.
Then when they stopped the fight all of a sudden he started playing this whole thing of like, ‘Oh, I can’t fight anymore’ or whatever… but I’m pretty sure he was basically trying to throw the fight because he seemed just fine.”
Since outpointing former title challenger Thiago Santos in a March main event two years ago, Ankalaev’s resume makes for unsatisfactory reading.
He scored a second-round TKO win over longtime contender Anthony Smith, though Lionheart acquitted himself well in their early stand-up exchanges and it quickly went downhill after the 35-year-old sustained a broken ankle injury.
Shortly afterwards, the finishing sequence came and well, the rest was history.
No-one remembers how you won, so while most believed he did enough to become champion outright five months later at UFC 282, the three judges couldn’t be separated in a controversial split draw against former titlist Jan Blachowicz.
Worse still, the 40-year-old felt compelled to walk back comments made cageside afterwards saying he believed Ankalaev also prevailed. Originally slated to rematch Aleksandar Rakic at the end of January, he withdrew to undergo long-standing double shoulder surgery and won’t return until the summer months at the earliest.
The current state of play at light-heavyweight
Champion: Alex Pereira after second-round Prochazka TKO win
1: Jamahal Hill, former champion sidelined with torn ACL rehab
2: Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic [5] at UFC 300
3: Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker [7] this weekend
4: Jan Blachowicz, out with double shoulder surgery recovery
6: Nikita Krylov, hasn’t fought since R1 sub win vs. Ryan Spann [11]
8: Khalil Rountree, who just beat a short-notice Anthony Smith on Dec. 9
Why this means more than most
It makes top-10 matchups like these more interesting, as an emphatic win can catapult you into favourable title contention discussions with a division still lacking clarity at the top – not seen since Jon Jones ventured to heavyweight.
While Pereira continues to flirt with other possibilities not named Jamahal Hill for his first championship defence, Johnny Walker stands to gain plenty if – a big if – he can execute under pressure when Ankalaev ominously walks forward to him.
It’s why he’s spoken about being emotionless, separating what happened in Abu Dhabi from the aggression he needs to employ here, but that’s easier said than done.
Riding a three-fight win streak heading into that contest, he was able to employ those tactics – against weaker opposition – and whenever he’s stepped up the levels, been crucially found wanting. Hill iced him inside a round two years ago, Santos outpointed him four months earlier and there are other pre-lockdown examples.
“100 percent [the winner fights for the title], I’m sure Ankalaev is the toughest guy now in the division. This fight is going to decide who is going to be the next champion: me,” Walker told the press midweek and has promised to go searching for a stoppage inside the five-round distance. You shouldn’t expect any less.
Ankalaev has been guilty of a few workmanlike performances under the bright lights, his two-fight series with Ion Cutelaba aside, and he’ll know that he can’t afford another in his second main event – the title shot said more about opportune timing rather than anything else, allowing Hill to surprisingly capitalise a month later.
Ankalaev is more skilled and the clear pre-fight favourite for a reason, against an inconsistent Walker that needs to produce a career-best display to get his hand raised – by any means – this weekend. Having faltered on multiple occasions before, it’s tough to imagine him reaching the very top at 205lbs if he falls short again here.
UFC Vegas 84 card, is as follows
Main card
Light-heavyweight: Magomed Ankalaev [3] vs. Johnny Walker [7]
Lightweight: Jim Miller vs. Gabriel Benitez
Bantamweight: Ricky Simon vs. Mario Bautista
Middleweight: Phil Hawes vs. Brunno Ferreira
Heavyweight: Andrei Arlovski vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta
Prelims
Welterweight: Matthew Semelsberger vs. Preston Parsons
Bantamweight: Marcus McGhee vs. Gaston Bolanos
Bantamweight: Farid Basharat vs. Taylor Lapilus
Featherweight: Westin Wilson vs. Jean Silva
Lightweight: Tom Nolan vs. Nikolas Motta
Flyweight: Joshua Van vs. Felipe Bunes
Picture source: Getty Images, quotes via mmajunkie
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