Johnny Walker opens up and explains the injury that took him out of the UFC 311 card

Johnny Walker comes from defeat Volkan oezdemir. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram @johnnywalker

Johnny Walker still faces the hardship of having been removed from UFC 311, held last Saturday (18), in Inglewood, California (USA). Scheduled to face Bogdan Guskov, the Brazilian needed to withdraw from the event due to an injury. Now, the severity of the injury has come to light: a bruised rib.

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“It wasn’t stupid at all. I was doing the last sparring, very technical, timing. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. It was hard sparring, but very conscious. I was trying to get out of a jiu-jitsu position and throw myself, like a normal thing, and then I felt my ribs pop. I was like, ‘OK, stop, stop, stop. I think something happened to my ribs.’” Walker said in an interview with 'MMA Junkies'.

“So I had an X-ray the next day. The UFC got the results and took me out after that. They knew how serious the injury was. I got the notice and I was devastated because I was pushing myself so hard,” he told the US website.

life changing

Johnny Walker He faces this adversity in the midst of a major life change after deciding to leave Dublin, Ireland, and move to the United States with his family. Not being able to compete under these circumstances was an even heavier burden for the athlete to bear.

“I spent the last four years in Ireland training at SBG [gym] with John Kavanagh. Then I moved countries, brought my wife, my baby and my dog ​​to a new country, a new house. I had to finish the house, pack a lot of bags and, on top of that, I started a camp in a new environment with new coaches and new training partners. It was very [heavy],” said the fighter.

Walker is coming off two losses to Magomed Ankalayev e Volkan oezdemir. The light heavyweight (up to 93kg) is tenth in the ranking with a record of 31 professional fights, with 21 wins and nine losses.