Walker Knocks Out Zhang in Shanghai: Surprise at UFC Fight Night

In an event that marked the UFC’s return to China after six years, Johnny Walker surprised Zhang Mingyang with a stunning knockout in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Shanghai.

Walker Ruins Mingyang’s Party

Walker, after a streak of two consecutive knockout losses, achieved an impressive victory over the Chinese light heavyweight. The TKO in the second round by the 33-year-old Brazilian fighter ended a streak of 12 consecutive victories for Zhang, who had not lost an MMA fight since 2019 and had not seen a second round since 2018.

Johnny Walker’s TKO in the second round at the UFC Fight Night main event in Shanghai ended Zhang Mingyang’s 12-fight winning streak.Zhang dominated the first round, connecting significant blows and putting Walker on the defensive. However, Walker reacted in the second round with a different strategy, focusing on calf kicks. An effective kick visibly affected Zhang, followed by a second that knocked down the powerful fighter, who was coming off a streak of nine consecutive knockouts in the first round. Walker (22-9, 1 NC) took advantage of the situation and finished the fight with ground-and-pound at 2:37 of the second round.

My kick is incredible, right?

Johnny Walker

Walker also briefly addressed the crowd in Chinese and showed respect for Zhang (19-7).

A tough fighter from China, with many consecutive victories. It’s a very good experience to fight against a very tough guy. As you can see, I’m resilient. I took some hits today and kept going, and then I got it. This is MMA. Incredible, right?

Johnny Walker

Walker, although not ranked by ESPN, is ranked number 13 in the official UFC rankings. Zhang is one place below him.

Sterling Outperforms Ortega in the Co-Main Event

The co-main event, a clash between ranked featherweights, took place at a catchweight of 153 pounds due to Brian Ortega’s inability to make the division’s weight limit (146 pounds).

Despite the agreed-upon weight, Ortega couldn’t resist Aljamain Sterling, who took a unanimous decision after five dominant rounds (50-45, 50-45, 50-45).

Sterling (25-5), former bantamweight champion, proved to be too fast for Ortega (16-5, 1 NC), who only landed 7% of his strikes (2 of 28) in the first round. Sterling, ranked number 9 in ESPN’s 145-pound rankings, secured his second victory in his last three fights, after losing his title in 2023, a defeat that ended a nine-fight winning streak. For Ortega, ranked number 4, it was his second consecutive loss and the fifth in his last seven fights.

Pavlovich Defeats Cortes-Acosta

The fight card also included a heavyweight clash in the ESPN rankings, where Sergei Pavlovich, number 6, won in the third round against Waldo Cortes-Acosta (30-27, 29-28, 29-28), number 9. Pavlovich has won eight of his last 10 fights, but lost to champion Tom Aspinall less than two years ago.