UFC Abu Dhabi will be crucial for top heavyweight prospect Walter Walker as he approaches the top of the division with a four-fight finishing streak. However, he wants to be paid accordingly for this.
Walker has defeated Junior Tafa, Don’Teil Mays, Kennedy Nzechukwu and Louis Sutherland in 14 months, all in the first round, and will now face Thomas Petersen on July 25. After a long layoff recovering from a broken leg and an injury suffered by Sutherland, Walker wants to waste no time and get going quickly at the next show in Abu Dhabi – likely in October.
“If all goes well, I will take this fight and renegotiate my contract,” Walker told MMA Fighting. “My next contract will be generous, and then I will fight ranked opponents. I’ll be honest with you guys, it’s not that I’m afraid to fight ranked guys. I train with good guys, ranked guys. The thing is, I don’t want to fight ranked opponents while making little money. If I can fight unranked guys for little money, fine. But as soon as I make more money, then fight with ranked guys makes sense. I’m not stupid. I’m not going to fight a guy who has a chance to knock me out for a pittance, but for good money, money that even if I lose, I’ll still feel the difference, then with the money I was making before, if I lost, it just wouldn’t make sense to me.”
Walker, who has volunteered to face either Josh Hokit or Gable Steveson in his next UFC fight, has one fight remaining on his current UFC contract after Petersen, making this upcoming bout a defining moment for his upcoming negotiations with the company.
“If I lose, I know they won’t renegotiate,” Walker said. “Winning this fight is very important to me because I know this is my chance to move up in the organization, to move up financially. That’s why this win is so important to me.
“I have to win, man, because if I lose, I’m done,” he continued. “I’m opening my own gym in Moscow. The money from this fight, if I lose, everyone will go to the gym because I’ve already spent it. I’ll even (see) it. If I win, I’ll have enough money to feed myself for about six months and open a gym. If I lose, I’m screwed. I can only open the gym and then I’ll have to figure out a way to fight again next week or something. My plan was to win for myself. some time and run out of it. My contract worked, man. If I can do it, why not?”
Walker was at his best in the UFC, landing four straight heel hooks, feeling loved by fans and promoted, and was “pissed off” that he had to sit out for so long to nurse a leg injury. However, he sees the silver lining in not being so hyped in return.
“I used to care about the hype, but not so much now,” Walker said. “My hype has cooled down a lot. But what I’ve done is really hard for anyone else to do, so people are still doing this foot-hunting thing. People still stop me on the street and ask me to take a picture.
“But honestly, it was good that things cooled down, because when people start kissing your ass and putting you on a pedestal, you kind of start to lose your essence, you know? I felt like I was losing myself in all of this. It was good that I broke my leg, pulled myself together, let my hype die down. I looked at who the really important people in my life were, looked at what was really important and what I needed to do. It was good, it really was. When you get caught up in all the hype and attention from the fans, everything happens on autopilot. People keep hanging around you, kissing your ass, and you just keep opening the door. Now I don’t talk to a lot of people anymore. I don’t open the door to anyone anymore.
“We’re just regular guys,” he continued. “We practice and we’re good at something. There’s nothing special about us. If I lose on Saturday and get my ass kicked, a lot of people will say I’m trash, you know? There’s nothing special about us. We’re just another athletes making money to feed our family. I’m a simple guy. I think people putting you on a pedestal is a huge illusion. I don’t think I’m fooled by it anymore.”
The 28-year-old heavyweight said he expects Peterson to hit his leg in an attempt to re-injure it and ensures he’s prepared to counter a boring game plan. As for his signature heel hooks, it remains to be seen whether he’ll go for a fifth straight.
“What can he do? Kick the leg that I broke and he’s good at it?” Walker said. “He does it well, changes stances and throws kicks. That’s what I think he plans to do. He throws the jab and the overhand. Pin me against the cage and just kill time to win on points. He doesn’t have a knockout in the UFC. He doesn’t have a submission. What he does is pin guys against the fence and keep them there. I’m ready for that.”
“Believe it or not, I don’t go into fights planning to attack the leg,” he continued. “It’s just something I do well and guys give me an opportunity, so I get it. I’m not planning that for this fight… If I see an opportunity to attack the leg, I’ll take it. If I see that I can dive on the leg, I’ll do it. In my last fight, I wanted to stand and exchange, but it didn’t work out (laughs). (Sutherland) kicked me, I checked incorrectly and my leg ended up breaking. In this fight, I’m going to try to stand and exchange punches for two or three minutes, because I need experience inside the octagon, I need to feel that adrenaline from exchanging blows, I still don’t have that experience in the UFC, you know?”