Walker knocks out Cortes-Acosta, volunteers as UFC 334 backup seven days later

Johnny Walker delivered the first finish of Waldo Cortes-Acosta’s MMA career at UFC Vegas 124 on Nov. 7, dropping the heavyweight contender with a head kick and follow-up punches at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas — and within days he was volunteering to do it all again.

Walker and Cortes-Acosta had stepped in on eight days’ notice to salvage the main event after Sean Brady vs. Gabriel Bonfim was cancelled. Now Walker is putting his hand up as the backup fighter for Ciryl Gane’s heavyweight title defence against Josh Hokit, which headlines UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 12.

“It just showed my potential, right?” Walker told MMA Fighting. “These are facts. I wasn’t 100 percent trained, but I was more or less in shape. It just showed that I’m ready for anything. If someone drops out of the title fight next week or gets injured, they can put me in there too.”

The Brazilian, who lives in Las Vegas and trains at Porrada Training Center, said he came through the Cortes-Acosta fight without serious damage. “My face is just a little swollen because I ate a lot of punches, but I didn’t suffer any injuries,” he said, adding he would make the trip to New York if the UFC covers his flight.

Gane claimed the heavyweight belt by knocking out Alex Pereira in June, the same night Hokit earned his title shot by stopping Derrick Lewis at UFC White House. Walker assessed Hokit as a wrestler who lacks elite striking or jiu-jitsu, and said a matchup with him would be favourable regardless of whether it came as a last-minute replacement or later in the calendar.

“I think he has good wrestling, but his jiu-jitsu probably isn’t that good. And his striking isn’t anything crazy either, so I think that would be an excellent fight for me,” Walker said. “If he takes me down, I’ve got plenty of jiu-jitsu. I’d sweep him, I’d catch him on the ground. And if he wants to stand and trade, I’d knock him out too.”

If the UFC 334 backup role does not materialise, Walker is targeting a return in the first quarter of 2027 — with a potential Hokit fight in mind should the challenger fall short against Gane — before pushing for a heavyweight title shot of his own.

The stoppage of Cortes-Acosta carries extra weight given the résumé of those who failed to finish him previously. Top-ranked heavyweights Sergei Pavlovich, Alexander Volkov, and Curtis Blaydes all defeated Cortes-Acosta inside the UFC but could not put him away. Walker did it in the third round, moving to 2-0 in the heavyweight division with two knockouts and two performance bonuses.