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Can’t wait
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While light heavyweight is his home for now and the next few years, Walker believes he’s just too big to stay at 205 forever.

While Johnny Walker hasn’t had the best of luck in the past, he’s hoping a productive year against the top fighters at 205 pounds will lead him to a title shot in 2024. He plans on winning the 205-pound belt, becoming a “great champion,” and eventually capturing a championship at heavyweight as well.

“My future is going to be heavyweight,” Walker said during a pre-fight media day interview. “I have size, I have power, so 100 percent, in a few years, I’m going to end up at heavyweight.”

Walker faces off against Magomed Ankalaev in the main event of this Saturday’s (Jan. 13, 2024) UFC Vegas 84 card. It’s a rematch of their controversial No Contest from UFC 294, where Ankalaev kneed a grounded Walker to the face illegally. Walker was willing to continue, but the cageside physician didn’t like the look (or sound) of him. With the benefit of four months hindsight, Johnny appreciates that call.

“The doctor has to take the smart decision for you, because we’re never gonna take the smart decision,” Walker said. “We always want to fight. I want to fight, it doesn’t matter if we’re bleeding, cut. I am glad today because when I look back, one week after the fight, I feel my neck locked up, my collarbone a little bit inflamed. I received a big impact on my jaw. It was like a car crash.”

“If I come back to the fight, 100 percent I’m going to be disadvantaged because I absorbed all the energy already, but we don’t feel because we are tough,” Walker continued. “I’m glad the doctor took the smart decision for me at the time. If I kept going, I’d have been disadvantaged.”

Walker comes into Las Vegas on a three fight unbeaten streak, and is looking forward to fighting all the top names at 205 pounds.

“100 percent I’m going to face these guys,” he said. “All of these guys are going to be in my way one day. It’s going to happen because there’s no other way. The greatest will match up with each other. There’s no easy work anymore. The Top Five is all hard work, and I love hard work, cuz I work hard every day.”

Magomed Ankalaev enters the cage on a nine fight unbeaten streak, with his last defeat coming to Paul Craig back in 2018. He sounds locked in and ready to finish this chapter with Walker, so the bout will definitely be anything but easy.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

At the UFC Vegas 84 weigh-ins, all 24 fighters on Saturday’s fight card in Las Vegas will step on the scale Friday. MMA Fighting has live video of the official weigh-ins, courtesy of Ag Fight.

In the main event, Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker can weigh no more than 206 pounds, the maximum allowed for their non-title light heavyweight rematch.

The UFC Vegas 84 official weigh-ins are at 12 p.m. ET.

Main Card (ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET)

Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker

Matheus Nicolau vs. Manel Kape

Jim Miller vs. Gabriel Benitez

Ricky Simon vs. Mario Bautista

Phil Hawes vs. Brunno Ferreira

Preliminary Card (ESPN+ at 4 p.m. ET)

Andrei Arlovski vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta

Matthew Semelsberger vs. Preston Parsons

Marcus McGhee vs. Gaston Bolanos

Westin Wilson vs. Jean Silva

Nikolas Motta vs. Tom Nolan

Joshua Van vs. Felipe Bunes

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Slated to make his third Octagon walk at UFC 300 in April, unbeaten wrestling ace, Bo Nickal remains supremely confident of beating fellow unbeaten middleweight contender, Khamzat Chimaev in a future pairing – which fans within the space believe is almost a certainty in the near future.

Nickal, a former two-time feature on Dana White’s Contender Series, continues his high-profile run in the promotion this year as he makes his return in search of a third consecutive victory, as he takes on Cody Brundage.

As for Chimaev, the unbeaten middleweight contender turned in the most high-profile and notable victory of his also brief Octagon tenure back in October of last year in the co-main event of UFC 294.

Drawing former undisputed welterweight champion and prior pound-for-pound number one, Kamaru Usman, Chechen-born contender, Chimaev landed a close, majority decision victory over the Auchi native, however, has been sidelined through hand surgery and a mysterious illness in the time since his triumph.

Bo Nickal claims he wins a future fight with Khamzat Chimaev

And playing up the possibility of a future pairing with the surging Chimaev, Nickal, who made short work of both Jamie Pickett and then Val Woodburn in March and July of last year, respectively, claims he would likely hand Chimaev a defeat if they share the Octagon in the future.

“He’s a tough guy, of course,” Bo Nickal told MMA Fighting of Khamzat Chimaev. “When you have a guy like Kamaru Usman, who is one of the all-time greats at his weight class, he was a champion, defended the belt multiple times, good wrestling base, and he [Chimaev] is able to take him down and control him like what he did in the first round, I think there’s a lot to be said for that.”

“But, at the same time, I believe in myself, and I think my skills match up very well against him,” Bo Nickal explained. “I feel like that’s a fight that I win.”

Who wins a potential future showdown: Khamzat Chimaev or Bo Nickal?

LowKickMMA.com

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Idea
| BJPenn.com

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Francis Ngannou hits as hard as a Ford Escort.

Nobody knows precisely what that means, but back when “The Predator” was on good terms with UFC, the promotion loved to advertise his fearsome punching prowess. The UFC Performance Institute (PI) has a machine designed to absorb impact and register just how much force went into the blow, and for many years, Ngannou has ruled as the record-holder and de facto power punching king since 2017.

No longer.

On a recent episode of the JRE MMA Show, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan sat down with top-ranked Welterweight contender Sean Brady. The submission ace hasn’t set any punching records that we know about, but according to the duo, Francis Ngannou’s record has been upset by rising Middleweight talent Joe Pyfer.

“That motherf—ker hits so hard,” Rogan said about Pyfer. “We should tell everybody that he broke Francis Ngannou’s record on that punch machine.”

“They weren’t trying to give it [the record] to him,” Brady responded.

Rogan continued, “They didn’t want to register it, and I don’t understand why. Why didn’t they want to give it to him?”

“I don’t know,” Brady answered. “The guy was saying something was weird with the machine … He [Pyfer] did it like three times! Three times in a row.”

“Oh, so the guy didn’t want to believe it?” Rogan concluded in laughter.

Let’s get the machine calibrated and get “Bodybagz” back in front of it! Pyfer may not have quite the resume of Ngannou, but the 27-year-old talent has proven the power in his hands in the cage, having stopped eight of his 12 wins via knockout. He’s next scheduled for his first main event slot opposite Jack Hermansson in February from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

As for Ngannou, he’s still in the process of checking how hard he can hit in laced up gloves. He’s expected to score a $ 20 million paycheck in March when he squares off with Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps that payday will ease the pain of a lost (perhaps unofficially) record?

Insomnia

RIP to One Championship athlete Fariyar Aminipour.

Incredible rotation on this kick(s)!

Michel Pereira is about as fun to watch as they come, but Michal Oleksiejczuk might be even MORE electric. This is a certified banger!

A Lightweight doing shark tank rounds with “Jacare?” Sounds tough!

A closer look at Dan Hooker’s latest artwork:

Quinton Jackson being named “Rampage” but swearing off anger while fighting is at least a little funny.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

From the beginning, those liver kicks were clearly an issue.

We always talk about Mike Perry as the man who found his calling in BKFC, but Luis Palomino has hit his stride there too!

Here’s a new way to lose a fight …

Random Land

This incredible graphic is a really cool way to appreciate a piece of art that we’ve all heard previously.

Midnight Music: Art pop, 2021

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.

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