The best and worst from UFC Fight Night 140: Magny vs. Ponzinibbio

#2 Best: Johnny Walker and the clinch of doom

Johnny Walker knocked out Khalil Rountree with a brutal elbow from the clinch

Outside of suspecting we could get an exciting brawl, I wasn’t expecting a lot from the UFC debut of Brazilian banger Johnny Walker. He’s got one of the coolest names in MMA, but he was also faced with a powerful striker in Khalil Rountree – a man whose sole weakness appeared to be on the ground, somewhere that Walker doesn’t usually care to take a fight.

I’m happy to say I was very wrong. In execution, the fight turned out to be a huge mismatch, but not in favour of Rountree. Walker shrugged off a couple of low kicks with a bit of comical taunting, hit Rountree with a head kick, and then secured a nasty plum clinch to deliver a pair of elbows that left the TUF finalist out cold.

The finish was probably the best on offer last night and given the fights we got, that’s saying something. Landing an elbow like that from the clinch takes some serious skill from the position – something we don’t see a lot of in the UFC – and to me it means Walker’s a man to watch.

The Brazilian seems to have all the tools needed to succeed at Light-Heavyweight – he’s big for the division at 6’4” and he’s in great shape, he clearly hits like a truck and judging by his facial expressions and post-fight interview, he’s got a ton of charisma too. In a division where prospects are few and far between – see Middleweight journeyman Anthony Smith’s sudden rise to title contention – Walker could well make some serious noise in 2019.