The violence potential for this newly released Ultimate Fighting Championship light
heavyweight rumble is almost off the charts.
On his YouTube channel,
UFC light heavyweight Johnny
Walker (18-7) announced on Thursday that he would be facing off
against Ion
Cutelaba (16-7-1, 1 NC) in an all-action 205-pound battle on
Sept. 10. They will be colliding at UFC
279, which will be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on
pay-per-view. Both of these strikers celebrate career knockout
rates at 75% or higher.
Walker has hit a rough patch over the last few years, but not for
lack of trying. The high-flying Brazilian put himself on the map
with a trio of dynamic knockouts in 2018 and 2019, where he put
Khalil
Rountree, Justin
Ledet and Misha
Cirkunov away in the span of less than four months and only
2:50 of combined fight time. Since then, four defeats in his last
five outings have quelled his momentum, and he will be bringing a
two-bout skid into this pairing. His knockout over Ryan Spann in
2020 is bookended by these losses to Corey
Anderson, Nikita
Krylov, Thiago
Santos and Jamahal
Hill. Despite this, Walker’s finish rate sits at a stellar 94%
as a pro.
“The Hulk” Cutelaba only trails Walker’s stoppage rate by a small
margin, with 87% of his own victories coming inside the distance.
Cutelaba has also struggled as of late, with a single victory
across his last five appearances – although he only maintains three
losses and a split draw to Dustin
Jacoby, instead of four setbacks. The Moldovan put a hellacious
beating on Devin Clark
in which he knocked Clark’s teeth out in 2021, only to then get
tapped by a Spann guillotine choke this May. At night’s end, one of
these exciting light heavyweights will likely get back in the win
column.
UFC 279 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sept. 10,
where a rare non-title fight will serve as the PPV headliner. At
170 pounds, top contender Khamzat
Chimaev will face off against Nate Diaz,
with the latter fighting the last bout of his UFC contract with
seemingly no interest in re-signing. Other fights likely placed
higher on the billing include a bantamweight scrap between Irene
Aldana and Macy
Chiasson, and a heavyweight clash pitting Shamil
Abdurakhimov against Jailton
Almeida.