If you ask UFC light heavyweight Julius Walker to reflect on his UFC career, he’s proud of what he’s done. He kicked off his stint in the organization with a short notice, hard-fought split decision loss to Alonzo Menifield. Then he came in and showed out in his first fight with a full camp against Raffael Cerqueira. However, despite picking up a big win in his last fight, Walker has one thing on his mind – a finish.
Having finished the bulk of the guys through his career before the UFC, he’s itching to do it again. However, he recognizes that some of that is due to the level of competition he’s stepped into.
“These guys are at the highest level. You know what I mean? Most of us do this for a career. Lots of guys are coming from all over the world to fight you. The last guy I fought, I think about it, he came from Brazil. If I had fought the guy I was previously supposed to fight, he was going to come from the other side of the world to fight,” Walker explained. “These guys are at the highest level, and I think for me, I’m kind of learning on the job.”
That idea of learning on the job is a difficult one. However, Walker feels it’s important to cut himself some slack when he sees just how tough he has it in comparison to how long he’s been in the sport.
“I’m wrapping up the third year of my pro career and I’m fighting guys in the UFC. This will be my second top 20 opponent in the world in three UFC fights,” he said. “I’m growing up in the company, learning on the job.”
Despite looking at another tough out in Dustin Jacoby on Saturday, Walker thinks that finish is coming.
“I’m going to get my hand raised inside the distance, baby. I’m confident. I’ll never take a fight that I don’t believe I can win, and at the end of the day, I think if you don’t believe that you can beat whoever’s put in front of you, you probably shouldn’t be fighting in the UFC,” Walker said. “You know what I mean? They pay me to fight in the biggest martial arts organization in the world. And I’ve got to fight the best fighters in the world. So let’s do it, baby.”
You can see Julius Walker look for that next finish at UFC Vegas 113. He fights Dustin Jacoby as part of the main card on Paramount+ this Saturday beginning at 5pm EST.
