“I come here to smash all of these guys” – Johnny Walker has his sights set on Jiri Prochazka if he is able to defeat Thiago Santos

Johnny Walker wants to keep moving up the rankings, seal a title shot and become the champion of the light heavyweight division as soon as possible.

A two-fight skid, which included losses to Corey Anderson in November 2019 and Nikita Krylov in March 2020, might have halted his progress a bit. However, the 29-year-old made a strong comeback with a first-round knockout win over Ryan Spann in September 2020.

Johnny Walker is now fully focused on attaining gold in the UFC. During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Walker expressed his desire to fight No.2-ranked contender Jiri Prochazka if he defeats Thiago Santos in his upcoming fight this weekend.

“I hope I get one of the top-three guys next, maybe Jiri Prochazka. Because Prochazka is going to be a really good test for me, to see if I’m ready for the top-five guys. If I’m ready, boom! Depending on my performance in that fight I can talk about a title shot. I come here to smash all of these guys and show that I need to be the champion, my friend.”

Catch Johnny Walker’s appearance on The MMA Hour below:

Johnny Walker will take on Thiago Santos in the UFC Vegas 38 main event

Johnny Walker is set to square off against the No.5-ranked light heavyweight, former title challenger and fellow countryman Thiago Santos in the main event of UFC Vegas 38 this weekend.

Santos holds a 21-9 record and is coming off three consecutive losses in the UFC. After losing to former champ Jon Jones in a 2019 title fight, the 37-year-old fell to further defeats against Glover Teixeira in November 2020 and Aleksandar Rakic in March this year.

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Santos’ last victory inside the octagon came against current light heavyweight titleholder Jan Blachowicz back in February 2019.

As well as the Thiago Santos vs. Johnny Walker headliner, a middleweight encounter between No.14 contender Kevin Holland and unranked Kyle Daukaus will serve as the co-main event at the UFC Apex this weekend.

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