Johnny Walker has gotten his wish.
Walker recently did an interview with LowKickMMA and called out Paul Craig for UFC 283 at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 21.
“If I can get to UFC Rio in January, could be good to fight the guy from Scotland, Paul Craig,” Walker said to LowKickMMA. He’s close in ranks, he’s not a big step. he’s not in top five so going to be good for keep going, moving forward. One more win, then I pick somebody top five, top three, then championship.”
Now, according to the Brazilian outlet, AG Fight, the matchup between Walker and Craig will indeed happen at UFC 283. The main event of the pay-per-view card has not been announced but the event will see a flyweight title fight between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno 4.
Johnny Walker (19-7) returned to the win column back at UFC 279 as he scored a first-round submission over Ion Cutelaba. Prior to that, the 11th-ranked light heavyweight suffered a KO loss to Jamahal Hill and a decision loss to Thiago Santos in back-to-back Fight Night main events. The Brazilian has been in the UFC since 2018 and is 5-4 inside the Octagon as he also holds notable wins over Ryan Spann, Khalil Rountree, and Misha Cirkunov.
Paul Craig (16-5-1) had his six-fight unbeaten streak snapped his last time out as he suffered a decision loss to Volkan Oezdemir at UFC London in July. Prior to that, he submitted Nikita Krylov, TKO’d Jamahal Hill, TKO’d Shogun Rua, submitted Gadzhimurad Antigulov, and a draw against Rua. The unbeaten streak started off with a submission win over Vinicius Moreira. The ninth-ranked light heavyweight is 8-5-1 inside the Octagon and also holds a submission win over Magomed Ankalaev.
With the addition of Johnny Walker vs. Paul Craig, UFC 283 is as follows:
- Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno
- Gregory Rodrigues vs. Brad Tavares
- Ihor Potieria vs. Mauricio Rua
- Gabriel Bonfim vs. Mounir Lazzez
- Zarah Fairn vs. Josiane Nunes
- Paul Craig vs. Johnny Walker
