Johnny Walker Reflects on Loss to Corey Anderson: “I Didn’t Let my Game Go”

After suffering an emphatic, and some might say shocking loss to Corey Anderson at UFC 244 on Saturday, Johnny Walker has opened up about what went wrong in the fight.

Anderson quickly puts away Walker

The light-heavyweight contenders faced off in the final bout of the UFC 244 prelims, and Anderson proceeded to finish Walker in the first round. Anderson floored Walker not long into the contest, and although the latter battled back, briefly, follow up shots brought the fight to an end at the 2:07 mark.

Although many people thought Anderson would be a serious test for Walker, on account of his wrestling pedigree, not many, if any, predicted the fight would go the way that it did.

Walker comments on the devastating defeat

Well, since the loss, which snapped Walker’s nine fight wining streak, the 27-year-old spoke with MMA Fighting. While reflecting on the bout, the dynamic striker said this:

“I know it was my mistake,” Walker said. “I hesitated too much. I should have been more aggressive, but I didn’t. I had too many people talking about his takedowns, so I waited for him to shoot, and I didn’t let my game go. It was the wrong strategy. I should have listened to myself. I listened to everyone else but me. That was my mistake. I regret that.

“I should have gone for the knockout right away like I always do, but I ended up changing my game and everything went wrong. But it’s alright – I’m ready for the next one.”

It was a big setback for Walker, no question. If he had taken out Anderson in emphatic fashion, like he did against Misha Cirkunov, Justin Ledet and Khalil Rountree, Walker would have been in the title shot mix. In recent weeks, there had been no shortage of talk about how Walker might do against the champ, Jon Jones.

But, now Walker is going to have to work his back into title contention. While talking about his fight, the promising fighter said this:

“I want to fight as quick as possible,” said Walker. “I want to fight in December, or January, or February. I’m ready. I’m not injured. (I) just get back to the gym and train and beat up the next one, and trust myself and my plan A more.”

So, it will be interesting to see if the UFC gets Walker back in the Octagon soon. Walker also reportedly said he’d be down to fight the winner of the November 16th bout between “Shogun” Rua and Paul Craig.  A fight with Rua would definitely draw interest, particularly in Brazil.