Magomed Ankalaev, Johnny Walker and all the fighters face-off after the weigh-ins for Saturday’s UFC Vegas 84 fight card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The fight card is headlined by a clash between two Top 10 ranked light heavyweights. Third ranked Magomed Ankalaev takes on seventh ranked Johnny Walker in a rematch in the headlining bout.
The two first fought at UFC 294 in October. The match ended in a no contest after Ankalaev accidentally landed an illegal knee that rendered Walker unable to continue.
The UFC Vegas 84 mixed martial arts (MMA) event will be headlined by a 205-pound showdown between Top 10 light heavyweight contenders Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker, taking place TONIGHT (Sat., Jan. 13, 2024) on ESPN+ from inside the promotion’s APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. This five-round affair marks an immediate rematch following their UFC 294 “No Contest” last Oct. in Abu Dhabi.
Check out their “Payback” video preview embedded above.
“I’m not looking for just coming out there and having my hand raised at the end of the fight,” Ankalaev said at the UFC Vegas 84 media day (watch it here). “What I want to do is I want to make sure that I get there, I make a statement and the fight is going to be over way before the final bell. I believe that 2024 is my year, and by the end of this year, you’ll see that the strap is around my waist. As the managers are telling me, it’s basically if I win this fight, there is nobody else who deserves the title run more than I do.”
“We know his pattern and what he likes to do, so we simulate these for many months, many weeks while sparring,” Walker said at the UFC Vegas 84 media day (watch it here). “I’m ready for whatever he tries to do, if he takes me down, if he tries striking. I know his pattern and what he’s going to try to use against me. Nothing has changed much. Just prepare for the worst. I’m ready. Maybe I’ll put him down because you never saw him when he back is on the floor, his behavior. I’m pretty sure if any of my good shots land, he’s going to sleep. If I get his back, I’m going to make him sleep, too. I’m going to choke him. I always try to push and get the best of myself and to finish the fight as well. I don’t like the judges deciding the fight for me and too much hard work for someone to maybe make a wrong decision. I want to make sure I have the fight in my hands so I’m going to do my best to finish the fight.”
Nothing left to do now except fight.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 84 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 84 news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here. For the updated and finalized “Ankalaev vs. Walker 2” fight card and ESPN+ line up click here.
Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker have a title shot in their sights. Again.
These two had their chance to make a case to be the No. 1 contender at light heavyweight three months ago at UFC 294, but as has so often been the case with this division recently, nothing was resolved in their first meeting. Ankalaev made the mystifying decision to throw an illegal knee at a grounded Walker, Walker was ruled unable to continue after a confusing conversation with a ringside physician, and the fighters were left with a no-contest and no choice but to run it back.
And run it back they will Saturday night at the UFC APEX, this time in the main event of UFC Vegas 84 with five rounds to prove they deserve a shot at champion Alex Pereira. If all goes according to plan, either Ankalaev or Walker—No. 4 and No. 8, respectively, in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings—should be fighting for a UFC title before year’s end. Then again, if there’s anything we learned from 2023, it’s that “according to plan” doesn’t mean squat.
The first UFC card of the new year was supposed to feature another pivotal rematch in the co-main event between flyweight contenders Matheus Nicolau and Manel Kape, but after Kape made an absolute mess of his weight cut, that bout has been canceled. Instead, a lightweight bout between Jim Miller and Gabriel Benitez serves as the penultimate fight, while a heavyweight bout between Andrei Arlovski and Waldo Cortes-Acosta has been bumped to the main card.
One could argue it worked out better this way as Miller and Arlovski get another chance to shine on a slightly brighter stage. By the end of the weekend, the MMA lifers will have a combined 84 (!!!) UFC appearances between them. If that’s not worthy of prime time, I don’t know what is.
What: UFC Vegas 84
Where: UFC APEX in Las Vegas
When: Saturday, Jan. 13. The six-fight preliminary card begins at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+, followed by a five-fight main card at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker
OK, I’m a sucker, I’ll admit it. I’m picking Magomed Ankalaev to win again.
When I first had to write about this matchup this past October, I picked Ankalaev to survive a fast start from Johnny Walker and find a finish in Round 2. I see no reason to change my winner prediction, though it could play out differently with five rounds to work with instead of three.
Walker might not be as inclined to rush Ankalaev out of the gate, instead choosing to give himself more time to find an opening to land a quick strike knockout blow in the later rounds. You can be certain that Walker’s team will be fine with falling behind on the scorecards if it means they can gather enough data to remove the judges from the equation.
On that same token, I can see Ankalaev strategically working his way to a decision rather than attempting to manufacture a finish out of nowhere. He simply has more ways to win this fight and as long as he doesn’t flirt with anymore senseless fouls, I like his chances of finally becoming the undisputed No. 1 contender at 205 pounds.
Now please don’t fool me again.
Pick: Ankalaev
Jim Miller vs. Gabriel Benitez
You think I’m picking against Jim Miller with UFC 300 just a few months away? Come on.
True, it doesn’t really matter if “A-10” (arguably the most unused nickname in UFC history), wins or loses on Saturday because the matchmakers probably already have a contract with April 13 on it ready for Miller to sign, but it’s more fun to imagine him making his third appearance at a UFC century event on a win streak, no?
Gabriel Benitez is the right opponent for him at this stage of their careers (this fight was actually supposed to happen in February of last year), both in terms of skill set and age range, so no complaints as far as choice of opponent. “Moggly” is actually a significant challenge as Miller’s most recent wins have all come against over-matched, under-experienced competition, with the exception of Donald Cerrone, who had one cowboy boot out the door when he lost to Miller.
I still think Miller has the edge here and he’ll come out on top of what should be a fun fight. Miller comes forward early, withstands some of Benitez’s offense, and then pours on the pressure until Benitez’s questionable defense crumbles. Let’s see another first-round finish for Miller in the books.
Pick: Miller
Ricky Simon vs. Mario Bautista
The third of three bantamweight fights on this card, both Ricky Simon and Mario Bautista should have plenty of motivation. For Simon, he’s wanting to bounce back from a tough fifth-round TKO loss to Song Yadong in his first UFC main event; for Bautista, a win over Simon would make it six straight and cement him as a legitimate top 15 contender in a crowded division.
Up until this point, with respect to Bautista’s opposition, he’s been picking off lower-ranked fighters. He has a high finishing rate, especially when it comes to snagging submissions, and he’s just been missing that standout name on his resume. That’s where Simon comes in.
Simon has the better quality of competition and the better wins, but there are still doubts as to how high he can go as he’s fallen short in breakthrough opportunities against Song, Rob Font, and Urijah Faber. The time is now for the talented Simon to show that he’s serious at making a title run.
These two are evenly matched, so don’t expect either to smoke the other in the opening round. They’ll tactically tag each other with leg kicks, thrill viewers with some entertaining scrambles, and dart in and out as they throw leather. Simon is the heavier hitter, so when this one goes to the cards, he’ll have enough of an edge in the striking battle to get back in the win column.
Simon by decision.
Pick: Simon
Phil Hawes vs. Brunno Ferreira
Is this a trap game for Brunno Ferreira?
“The Hulk” specializes in first-round knockouts. Phil Hawes’ past three losses have all come by way of first-round knockout. Picking Ferreira to win by first-round knockout seems simple enough.
Hawes has shown plenty of improvement over the course of his UFC career, particularly in the striking department, and when he gets his offense going there are moments where he looks like a guy who could fight for a title. Then there are other moments where he lets his hands drop and seconds later he’s eating canvas.
Given that this could be a win-or-cut fight for Hawes, it’s possible that adding urgency to his immense talents could prove to be a winning formula. It’s also possible that his chin lets him down again. I’m leaning towards the latter.
It’s not like Ferreira is some defensive savant, I just trust his chin more than I do Hawes’. He also has a tricky movement style that I imagine Hawes’ training partners had difficulty simulating in camp. All Ferreira needs is one good punch to lay you out and Hawes has allowed himself to be hit by one good punch too often for my liking.
Ferreira by first-round knockout.
Pick: Ferreira
Andrei Arlovski vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta
Andrei Arlovski has made a whole second career out of winning mucky decisions, but has he met his mucky match here?
In his first two UFC fights, Waldo Cortes-Acosta won on points against a pair of opponents that he probably should have finished, given his reputation heading into his debut. “Salsa Boy” has sharp hands and good agility for a heavyweight, so I was disappointed when he couldn’t put Chase Sherman nor Jared Vanderaa down for the count.
That experience winning forgettable three-rounders is exactly what Cortes-Acosta needs here though as he’s dealing with a former heavyweight champion in Arlovski, who hasn’t finished a fight in almost nine years. NINE YEARS. “The Pit Bull” simply does enough to keep winning and keep getting fight contracts sent his way. It’s one of MMA’s great success stories and it could go on forever.
I’m going Cortes-Acosta by decision, which I have little confidence in. Still, there has to be a point where Arlovski’s tactics don’t pay off on the scoreboard. He’s lost recently by knockout and by submission, and now it’s time to see his decision win streak (judges’ calls have gone his way seven straight times!) come to an end.
Mike Tyson is one of the biggest names in the history of professional boxing.
The former heavyweight world champion rose from the poverty-stricken streets of New York to becoming a legend in the sport. Playing a big role in his development were Cus D’Amato and Teddy Atlas, two legends in their own right. However, training Tyson proved to be a struggle, particularly for Atlas who recently recounted an incident when he pulled a gun on a 15-year-old Tyson after he had inappropriately touched Atlas’ 11-year-old niece.
Speaking about the incident in an interview with VladTV, Atlas set the stage, revealing that he had at one point kicked Tyson out of his gym after the young pugilist ran into trouble one too many times. It was Atlas’ partner, Cus D’Amato, who allowed Tyson back into the gym.
That resulted in Tyson deciding to test the boundaries of what he could get away with courtesy of his God-given talent.
“Next thing you know, he’s testing those boundaries and he only knows one way to test them,” Atlas said. “He’s with an 11-year-old girl who happens to be in my family. And I don’t have to go into what he did or what he said and what he threatened to do. It wasn’t something that should be allowed. It’s not allowable.”
Determined to protect his family, Atlas confronted Tyson outside of the gym, stuck a gun in his face, and made sure the boxer knew just how serious he was.
“I got a gun, I went and I grabbed him outside the gym, and told him that if you ever go near my family again, in any way of hurting my family or what you said you were gonna do to this person, I’ll kill you. I want him to be sure that he understood because I understood him and I want to be sure he understood me,” Atlas continued.
“I needed him to understand what I really would do. I didn’t want to do it because I knew it would destroy my and my family’s life. It would destroy his life, obviously. So I wanted to make it very clear. And if it was gonna be, it was gonna be. That’s how serious I was.
“So I said, ‘Do you understand me?’ He showed that he didn’t, so I shot a bullet off close to his ear, just so he would because I didn’t want to be in that position again. If I had to, I would, but I didn’t want to, but in my way, I was saving him and me.”
Mike Tyson and Teddy Atlas. pic.twitter.com/Md08VOcehK
— Boxing History (@BoxingHistory) October 1, 2022
Teddy Atlas Does Not Condone The way he confronted Mike Tyson
Looking back on the incident, Atlas by no means condones his actions, but it’s what he felt he needed to do to protect his loved ones.
“I’m not condoning what I did, but I knew what it was leading to if I didn’t do something because he was going to do what he said,” Atlas said. “He would do what he said. I believed he would. I also believed that if I didn’t stop him from doing what he said, I wouldn’t be protecting my family.”
On March 26, 1992, Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison along with four years of probation after being convicted for the rape of 18-year-old Desiree Washington, in an Indianapolis hotel room. He was released in March 1995 after serving less than three years of his sentence. Due to the conviction, Tyson is required to register as a Tier II sex offender.
“You can have the greatest fighters in the world be on TV seven days a week,” Atlas continued. “Make millions of dollars. Have more cars than you need. But if you don’t have your own dignity… And that starts with simple things like standing up for your family. If you don’t have your own dignity, you have nothing.
“There’s a lot of ways of violating someone. There’s a lot of ways of stealing from someone. You can take their physicality, beat the crap out of them. You could violate them that way, or you could try to take the most important thing somebody has. Their self-worth. Their dignity. And he understood that and he thought he was going to take that.”
Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker will clash in the UFC Vegas 84 main event Saturday. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
MMA Fighting has UFC Vegas 84 results for the Ankalaev vs. Walker 2 fight card, a live blog of the main event, and more from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
In the main event, Johnny Walker and Magomed Ankalaev rematch in a light heavyweight contest. The pair first met this past October at UFC 294 and fought to a no-contest when an illegal knee from Ankalaev resulted in Walker being declared unable to continue by the cageside doctor.
On Friday, UFC President Dana White announced the headlining bout for the March 23 Fight Night event in Las Vegas. Former two-time strawweight champion Rose Namajunas takes on ninth-ranked Amanda Ribas in the UFC Fight Night 240 featured fight.
“Former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas will take on number nine ranked Amanda Ribas, March 23, at the UFC Apex,” White said via Instagram Video.
“Rose is dangerous, a great striker, knockout power. She’s beaten Weili Zhang, Joanna Jędrzejczyk. Ribas is returning to flyweight after an impressive wheel kick knockout over [Luana] Pinheiro, and this fight is going to be bada**. It’s good to have Rose back,” White continued.
View the original article to see embedded media.
Namajunas (11-6) moved up to the flyweight division after her UFC 274 split decision loss to Carla Esparza. She lost to Manon Fiorot in his 125-pound debut. She’ll enter the fight with Ribas coming off back-to-back losses. With a win, Namajunas will move into the Top 10 flyweight rankings.
Ribas (13-4) returns to the flyweight division after a one-fight stint as a strawweight. She earned a ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus in her last outing knocking out Luana Pinheiro with a spinning wheel kick followed by punches.
![[ESPN MMA] Ankalaev and Walker both make weight. The UFCVegas84 main event is official!](https://preview.redd.it/wglax6t8u1cc1.jpeg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=6209642ba7504cccff7f169b9b33b1047510e06b "[ESPN MMA] Ankalaev and Walker both make weight. The UFCVegas84 main event is official!")
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