Despite not originally being the main event for this past Saturday's card, Jamahal Hill vs Johnny Walker delivered an exciting fight and enough talking points coming out of it that it was probably a successful night for the UFC. I think we all knew Jamahal Hill had serious power, but that finish really has me wondering how significant it is because that was a bizarre ending. I've never seen someone react to a punch the way that Johnny Walker's body did to that shot. Then they show the replay and he didn't get him on the chin or behind the ear, which is typically where the big knockout blows will land. It was near the temple, but sort of just off the side of the head. I'm not questioning Johnny Walker at all and clearly he was out on his feet. If Hill can knockout someone out to that extent with a punch landing in that spot, then he is truly capable of anything in this division. He will have to take another step forward, so let's explore that for him and also where Johnny Walker can go from here.
Typically, I like to do some analysis of each fighter's performance, but there isn't a ton of that to do for Hill in this one. The fight didn't last long enough to answer certain questions regarding his cardio, but it isn't his fault that he can find the knockout so early. One good sign for Hill coming out of this was his grappling defense. Walker isn't the best grappler or wrestler by any means, but Hill's grappling was taken advantage of by Paul Craig and Hill was able to defend all of the takedowns. He'll have to do it against better grapplers going forward, but this was still a good sign. I also thought Hill did a good job of not trying to force things, but still pressing the issue. Walker is a dangerous striker and had a reach advantage. Hill is a guy who looks for the knockout and wants to just get into a fight and not necessarily a technical striking contest. I was a little worried that Hill could get too impatient and walk into something, but he didn't do that at all. He was able to pressure Walker and force him into the kind of fight that he wanted without being too reckless. He looked really good and he has for a vast majority of his UFC career. I feel like every fight he comes in under hyped and he just keeps working his way up the ladder.
For me, there's two options that make a good bit of sense for Jamahal Hill's next fight. Those men are Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes. Oezdemir has been very vocal in calling for that fight the last couple of days, so I think it is probably his fight to lose right now. He's lost 2 in a row to Magomed Ankalaev and Jiri Prochazka, but I think this does make a fair amount of sense for Hill. If Oezdemir is going to keep calling him out, then he's going to answer the call I assume. Oezdemir is also a striker, so it will create a fight with good hype that people will get excited to see. For example, I think that could make a pretty good co-main event for a PPV that can't have a title attached to it. Maybe look at that for a Diaz or McGregor card since those guys will have to be the main event and they won't have a title on that card so they don't have to give those PPV points up. I think Oezdemir vs Hill is as good a fight as Fiziev vs RDA, which is the co-main for Masvidal vs Covington in a couple of weeks. I think a fight with Dominick Reyes may carry a little more weight going forward. Reyes will always be someone who is relevant because of his fight with Jon Jones. Reyes has fallen on hard times recently after losing to Jones, Jan Blachowicz, and Jiri Prochazka. I don't know that another hot fighter who's rising is the best thing for him right now, but I don't anticipate him turning it down if they offer it either. Reyes is another striker, so it offers a lot of the same positives as the Oezdemir fight. I just think they may be looking in a different direction for him right now. I've seen some people throw out the idea of Hill fighting Anthony Smith next and while that would obviously be a fun fight, I don't think that is really in the cards. Anthony Smith is in the top 5 and may be one win away from another title shot of his own. I don't think asking him to fight someone who will be at 10 in the rankings is smart for him to do right now. He fought down in the rankings a few times in a row now and it is his opportunity to start going up. That may also be biting off more than he can chew for Hill. That's a big gap to jump and I think a more methodical approach will be the most beneficial route. Given the way everything is aligning, I think the Oezdemir fight is the one that makes the most sense and the one I would actually want to see the most. I think Hill vs Oezdemir and Smith vs Reyes actually sounds really nice. Smith would get to use the name value of Reyes if he can't get a fight with someone above him (Blachowicz or Rakic).
Johnny Walker has all of the talent in the world, he just has to figure out how to use it. He is absolutely massive for the division and offers creative striking with explosive power. Early in his career, he had a problem with being too reckless. He would try a lot of crazy things and it got him into trouble at times. His previous time out against Thiago Santos was much the opposite. He was so patient that he basically just let the fight get away from him. He didn't press the issue enough and lost a decision because of it. He needed to find a balance in this fight and I think he got closer to where he needed to be. Walker did some good things in this one, but not enough to get a win, obviously. I thought he did a good job of being more aggressive than he was against Santos, but not completely throwing caution to the wind. I think he still needs to be more aggressive with his pressure, but he did get closer to finding the right pace, which is a good thing in the long term. I thought he used his kicks well in the early going too. He's going to have a length and reach advantage in basically every fight he's in at 205 and I think he needs to use it a little better. Kicks will be a key to that and he showed some of that in this one. What always seems to plague Walker is his inconsistency. It is always hard to guess which version of him we will get from fight to fight and even round to round. He started off pretty solid in this one, but then couldn't maintain it. In the latter part of the round, he ended up on his back foot a lot and Hill was dictating what was happening. With someone as powerful as Hill, he couldn't rely on just holding up to his power. We saw that end the fight, but I don't think it was all negatives for Johnny Walker. Career progression is a process and isn't always linear. He over adjusted going into the Santos fight and I think he made some solid adjustments for this one. He still needs to nail things down and be a little tighter going forward, but if the last two fights are evidence, he's capable of learning and growing.
After another loss, Walker will be looking to bounce back. I will assume Walker will be fighting down in the rankings again and I think there's some good fights for him there. Ryan Spann, Jimmy Crute, and Ion Cutelaba are all solid opponents for him in my estimation. Spann is coming off of a loss, so he checks that box and he's also in a similar position in the rankings. This would probably be a good matchup for the both of them to try and bounce back. This is also a pretty entertaining matchup, so I can see this being something the promotion has interest in. Jimmy Crute is coming off of consecutive losses, with the last coming to Jamahal Hill. Crute is a tough fighter and he's still very young. He's more well rounded and would be a tougher fight for Walker in my estimation, but it would still be a fun fight. Unfortunately when you're on a losing streak and starting to slide down the rankings, you don't have much room for negotiating your next opponent. Ion Cutelaba is coming off of a win over Devin Clark and is in the number 15 spot in the rankings. He might be a good matchup for Walker to see if he still has it. If Cutelaba can win that fight then that will be a really nice jump start to his push. I think both Span and Crute would be good and fun fights for Walker next time. I wouldn't be as excited for a potential Cutelaba fight, but it still seems reasonable to me. I would lean towards Spann being my first choice personally.
What do you guys think? What was your opinion of the fight? Did you like what you saw from Jamahal Hill? Who should he fight next? What about Johnny Walker? Who should he fight next? Leave any and all thoughts below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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