It’s a debut that has been a long time coming. Valter Walker, brother of UFC light heavyweight contender Johnny Walker, finally arrives in the UFC this Saturday. A heavyweight, Valter takes on Lukasz Brzeski at UFC Vegas 90.
Walker was originally booked to debut last September against Jake Collier, but was forced to withdraw from that bout.
Valter “The Clean Monster” Walker
Standing at six-foot-six
Fighting at 261 lbs (heavyweight)
26-years-old
Fighting out of Rio das Ostras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Training out of GOR MMA
A pro record of 11-0
6 KO/TKOs, 1 Submission
How Walker will fare in the UFC:
When you see a Brazilian heavyweight at six-foot-six with an 11-0 record that’s something to get excited about. The familiar last name is because he’s the younger (but bigger) brother of UFC’s Johnny Walker. Although Valter Walker is from Brazil he lives and trains in Russia and it’s where he’s basically fought his entire career. His last fight was his US debut and he beat former UFC fighter Alex Nicholson for the Titan FC title.
When you get into watching Walter there isn’t a lot to like. Being as big as he is he doesn’t have that heavyweight power. Actually, he has no striking at all. What he does the best on the feet is throw knees in the clinch. That’s overshadowed by everything else though. Walter is flat-footed, shows zero technique, and has no defense. He just plods forward throwing crazy with no set-ups behind anything he does.
Walker wants to get the fight to the mat where he’s most comfortable. For a big guy you’d expect Walker to be throwing guys around. He actually gets takedowns the natural way getting in on the legs and dumping the guys to the mat. Although that is good and all, he’s shown no ability to chain wrestle or disguise his shots. Even when he does get the takedown Walker doesn’t do much. Walker just likes to use his weight and land soft shots. He never improves his position unless his opponent just gives it to him. Walker lacks jiu-jitsu big time and his ground and pound game should be much better. His striking probably isn’t going to improve but if he just learned jiu-jitsu he’d be a big threat.
Walker is going to struggle but at 26 he’s bound to have time to progress. He can beat the bottom of the division but there aren’t too many I feel confident about him beating beyond that.
How Walker matches up with Brzeski:
Valter Walker is getting one of these bottom heavyweights in Brzeski. Brzeski has had a terrible UFC run as he’s 0-3. This is a fight between two very flawed heavyweights. With Walker being a wrestler, keep in mind that Brzeski does struggle with takedown defense. He does at least get back to his feet however.
On the feet as flawed as Brzeski is he does throw a lot of volume. His cardio is poor and that will probably hurt him as this fight goes on. I’m slightly leaning towards Walker. I think his chin enough is good enough to weather an early storm. He should be able to get takedowns especially as the fight goes longer.
