Johnny
Walker won’t be competing at UFC 311
as originally planned.
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The Brazilian light heavyweight recently announced that he has been
forced to withdraw from a proposed clash against Bogdan
Guskov due to a “bad injury.” Walker did not reveal the exact
nature of the ailment. It is unclear if Guskov will remain on the
card against a replacement opponent. UFC 311 is currently scheduled
to take place on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles and is
headlined by a lightweight championship clash between Islam
Makhachev and Arman
Tsarukyan.
“Bad news. I’ve been pulled out by a bad injury next week at UFC
311. So I’m not going to be competing. I’m devastated,” Walker said
in a video on social media. “A lot of hard work I put in a few
months, trained a lot, and I really want to come back and do the
show for you, but not this time. I wish Bogdan good luck, hopefully
he can find an opponent because he probably put a lot of hard work
as well, so hopefully he can find a replacement very soon.
“…I know this is not good news, but I have to make a right decision
and accept this and recover, come back strong. . Everybody knows
I’m a dad now, Caio is my little baby, I have to fight for them,
for my family, and I have to put myself in the best position for
come back strong and all, take step by step. Sorry guys, but I’ll
be back stronger, heal as quick as I can and come back to put the
show on again.”
Walker is seeking his first victory since May 2023, when he took a
unanimous verdict over Anthony
Smith at UFC on ABC 4. The 32-year-old Rio de Janeiro native is
coming off back-to-back knockout losses against Magomed
Ankalaev and Volkan
Oezdemir.