Preview: UFC Fight Night 201 ‘Walker vs. Hill’

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With UFC 271 and the Israel Adesanya-Robert Whittaker rematch now firmly in the rearview mirror, the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday shifts back to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. UFC Fight Night 201 was already on the thinner side before the loss of its original main event—a lightweight scrap between Rafael dos Anjos and Rafael Fiziev—was pushed back two weeks. Fortunately, the UFC had a viable replacement on tap, as the new headliner between Johnny Walker and Jamahal Hill at least serves as a relevant encounter that figures to elevate the winner into contention at 205 pounds. As for the rest of the main draw, the clear highlights are Jim Miller’s latest record-breaking walk to the Octagon against promotional newcomer Nikolas Motta and a guaranteed banger between Joaquin Buckley and Abdul Razak Alhassan.

Now to the UFC Fight Night “Walker vs. Hill” preview:

Light Heavyweights

#10 LHW | Johnny Walker (18-6, 4-3 UFC) vs. #12 LHW | Jamahal Hill (9-1, 3-1 UFC)

ODDS: Hill (-250), Walker (+200)

Walker made his organizational debut in late 2018 and immediately made himself a potential star. A gigantic light heavyweight with some strange charisma, Walker put together three flashy knockouts over the course of just four months, as his finishes of Khalil Rountree, Justin Ledet and Misha Cirkunov took under three minutes combined. Then things started to go south, as Walker injured himself in a way only he could, accidentally dislocating his shoulder when his post-fight celebration went awry immediately after he defeated Cirkunov. Upon his return from injury, it did not go much better for Walker inside the cage. His wild and unpredictable style hit a clear ceiling against Corey Anderson and Nikita Krylov; Anderson stayed defensively aware and knocked out Walker, while Krylov simply outwrestled him for 15 minutes. Walker capped off his 2020 campaign with a chaotic win over Ryan Spann that, at the very least, seemed to guarantee he would be a guaranteed action fighter every time out. Then 2021 happened. After another injury layoff, Walker was matched against Thiago Santos for a headliner that certainly did not figure to need all 25 minutes, win or lose. Instead, what resulted was an interminable decision win for Santos in a poor performance from both men. Walker, in particular, seemed content to stay at range and constantly feint without much of a game plan as far as what to do next in terms of actual offense. Santos was at least consistent with his late-career form, but for Walker, it was a worrying sign that he might be fighting against type in a way that nullifies everything that has made him successful, flawed as his old approach may have been. Walker is still just 29 years old, so there is a chance this is just a series of growing pains rather than a full derailment of his career, but this is a big spot for the Brazilian against a rising prospect in Hill.

Even with a loss on his record, it has been an impressively clean run through the light heavyweight division for Hill, as “Sweet Dreams” looked like more of a long-term prospect than someone who would immediately be ready to jump into contention. Hill’s bread and butter is his striking, but his contract-clinching win on Dana White’s Contender Series and January 2020 UFC debut against Darko Stosic showed a fighter who needed some time to start building his offense to an effective apex. It took all of a few months for Hill to find a more effective form from the jump. While the result was eventually overturned due to a failed marijuana test, Hill knocked out the typically sturdy Klidson Abreu in less than two minutes his next time out. Hill then impressively passed his test against Ovince St. Preux at the end of 2020, putting in the most consistent performance of his career and officially marking himself as a prospect to watch. Some of that momentum was halted in June, when Hill suffered a gnarly technical knockout loss to Paul Craig that somehow did not result in a major injury, but he has subsequently erased the memory of that setback. Craig is a unique challenge in the light heavyweight division, and Hill’s most recent win was his most impressive, annihilating fellow hyped prospect Jimmy Crute in just 48 seconds. Hill still does need to round out his game a bit to find steady ground as a true contender, but he is good at what he does and should find himself firmly in the title mix with another win.

Much of this fight comes down to how Walker approaches it, and trying to figure that out seems like a lost cause at this point. If Walker recaptures his old form and makes this more of a firefight, he could get a lot done in short order. Hill usually relies on his size and range to dictate the terms of his fights and might be uncomfortable against Walker, the rare opponent against whom he is actually the smaller man. If the Walker we saw in the Santos fight is just who he is now, that raises another set of questions, namely since Hill is unlikely to be quite as passive as “Marreta.” If Hill starts finding some success and makes Walker feel some danger, does that finally press the Brazilian into a more aggressive form or does it become another type of fight where he seems content to simply coast to a loss? All those questions make this fight a coinflip in which the dynamic is not particularly clear as far as how the bout will even play out, let alone who will take over once it does. Walker could just obliterate Hill in short order. However, with Hill being more willing to actually throw some offense and with Walker being the only one of the two to have been knocked out, the small lean is towards the American in a fight that feels impossible to call. The pick is Hill via third-round stoppage.

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