Johnny Walker has not yet cracked the top 10 of the light heavyweight division, but that has not stopped him from being the talk of the division and a man who many have already appointed to be the heir apparent of Jon “Bones” Jones as the light heavyweight despot. Johnny Walker has dazzled fans in his three Octagon appearances, none of which coming out of the first round, but when asked about Walker as a potential threat to him, Jon Jones explained why the 26-year-old upstart has yet to pique his interest as a worthy challenger:
“One thing about these young fighters, these up-and-coming fighters, I try not to get overly impressed with these guys until they prove to me that they’re worth the hype,” Jones said in an interview with TMZ. “As far as Johnny Walker, I don’t think he’s fought anyone in the top 10 or anyone in the top 5. So if you allow me to fight the level of competition he’s fighting, I’ll probably look something similar. So I want to see some of these guys who are calling me out constantly, I want to see these guys beat another high-level guy, and then I’ll take him more seriously.”
Johnny Walker’s three UFC victories have come over Khalil Rountree Jr, Justin Ledet, and Misha Cirkunov. Although Cirkunov is ranked, Jon Jones feels that unless it is top 10 or top 5, he has no reason to take heed of Walker. Jones would go on to cite another example of someone who was heaped an amount of praise that proved disproportionate to his actual merit in the light heavyweight division:
“But I’ve seen so many guys throughout the years look so promising…like Volkan,” Jones said. “Just recently Volkan was the guy that was knocking out everybody. And then, he fought DC, and you got to see what he was against a high-level fighter.”
Do you believe Johnny Walker is being overhyped? Or has he already shown that he is a legitimate threat to Jon Jones?
