Johnny Walker's younger brother Walter Walker will make his UFC debut on Saturday at UFC Vegas 90, putting his undefeated record on the line against Lukasz Brzeski, but he's already in the spotlight thanks to his older brother's success and is excited. Throbbing.
“I'm a heavyweight who's 11-0 with five belts, and people are already expecting a great fight,” Balter said on the MMA Fighting podcast. Trocason Franca. “I [nervous] I don't think I can meet the expectations of my fans. My brother is a knockout artist, but my game is nothing like his. Increased number of knockouts on the ground. I take people down and hit them ground and pound. We have different styles. People might expect me to fight like my brother, but I'm not my brother, it's totally different. ”
Balter expects to have Johnny in his corner in Saturday's promotional debut and will help his brother prepare for Johnny's light heavyweight showdown against Volkan Oezdemir on June 22nd at UFC Saudi Arabia. .
Balter admitted that he has felt “unrealistic expectations” from fans since his MMA debut. Because his brother was already in the UFC at the time, and all he wants is to provide an exciting fight.
“My brother is the reason I started working out, and he's the reason I started MMA,” the 26-year-old heavyweight said. “I always looked up to him like a superhero. I was just a kid and he was already a teenager. He was a strong teenager and very fast, so I became like an older brother. I wanted to.”
Balter was attending law school in Brazil when Johnny traveled to England to train for a fight in the UFC in 2018. Contender series. Balter flew in to help Johnny prepare and then followed the UFC fighter to Thailand to serve as his sparring partner.
“I was scared to actually spar, and I was scared to get punched in the face,” Walker said. “I didn’t like it, but his brother hit me really hard.
“The first time we sparred together, I cried. He kicked me in the face and I started crying. I left the ring and ran to the bathroom and started crying. He was there. He went and said, “You just touched my face,” and told me to sort it out. I was only 18 years old. It was his third round of the sparring session, and he did five more. I cried, but still tried to fight back. He said he thought I had what it takes to be a fighter because I was crying and still trying to hit him back. ”
Balter said he competed in Muay Thai before taking part in “illegal, no-rules matches on sandy beaches” in Thailand. He lost by TKO on his first attempt, breaking his nose in the process, but then won in four outs. Afterwards, Balter injured his shoulder and was forced to quit martial arts and consider attending law school in Brazil to study to become a police officer, but his older brother persuaded him to undergo surgery first. I was persuaded.
Russian coach GOR, the leader of GOR MMA and Balter's main coach since then, saw championship potential in him and offered to help him with shoulder surgery. Balter eventually married and became a father in Russia, and has since collected MMA titles around the world. The UFC offer came after Walker stopped Alex Nicholson in four rounds in his most recent appearance to win the Titan FC heavyweight title.
“I don't like making plans because every time I make a plan, it doesn't work out the way I expected it to,” Walker said of what he expects from his UFC debut. “After the ninth fight, I said I was done making plans. I had a fight that my coach said would be easy and I went all the way to the third round and it was really tough. “Easy fight?” And in a round that was expected to be difficult, I finished in the first round. I don't like making plans.
“People are like, 'Here's Johnny's brother who's 11-0, and the other one is 4-0 and losing.'” He has bills to pay, just like I do. He's there to kill me, and I'm there to kill him. People say it's easy, I'll knock him out. I don't like to underestimate anyone. Because if the cage closes and the punch hits the jaw, you're out. Even if there's an 11-0 guy on the ground, the guy on the skids will be the champion. Of course we're going to win and we're going to put up a good fight. I want to deliver what people expect. But you never know what will happen. I'm ready for anything. I'm prepared to defeat and be defeated. ”
