Johnny Walker: My Head Wasn’t in the 'Right Place' Against Volkan Oezdemir

Johnny Walker is looking to go back to the drawing board following his loss against Volkan Oezdemir .

The light heavyweight clash between Walker and Oezdemir began the main card action at UFC on ABC 6 on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Swiss veteran brutally knocked out Walker, rendering him unconscious with one last follow-up shot at the 2:28 mark of Round 1.

Walker has now opened up on his loss while also confirming that he didn’t sustain any lasting injuries. The Brazilian felt that his head was just not in the right place despite having done everything perfectly leading up to the fight. Walker now plans on rewatching the fight to figure out what went wrong.

“I’m good. Just a little scratch on my lips… I just arrived at home with my little champ. It wasn’t really good night for me,” Walker said in a video on Instagram. “I don’t know what happened. I’m gonna have to figure out, watch the fight again and see what I did. I don’t think I feel my head in the right place for the fight. I was feeling amazing, really good camp in training, really strong. Everything was good. The [weight] cut was little bit hard, but as always. I just didn’t find myself there in the fight. But the most important thing is here, my little baby. I come back safe for him, gonna look after him and come back stronger. I’ll take time with family, enjoy my wife, my baby.… I’ll come back stronger.”

Walker is at a crossroads in his UFC career. He had a three-fight winning streak snapped by a no contest against Magomedov Ankalaev due to an illegal knee from the Russian at UFC 294 in October 2023. They met again in a rematch at UFC Fight Night 234 on Jan. 13, when Ankalaev defeated Walker via second-round KO.