Having spent time earlier in his career training in both Scotland and England, Johnny Walker eventually found his way to SBG Dublin in Ireland.
Joining the gym in 2020 after facing some adversity following his rapid climb up the light heavyweight rankings, the Brazilian has spent the majority of his UFC tenure with this team.
Here Walker would develop a great relationship with head coach John Kavanagh, who is most well known for being the main man in the corner of Conor McGregor.
However, following another patch of difficult results, it looks like the knockout artist is now looking to take himself out of his comfort zone once again.
Recent photos that were posted by “iamthebay” on Instagram show a training session at the American Kickboxing Academy, or AKA, in California.
Here, Walker can be seen getting some work in with the likes of Khabib and Usman Nurmagomedov, as well as the UFC lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev.
MMA Fans React To Johnny Walker Training Alongside Khabib Nurmagomedov After Years At SBG
Walker has always been a fighter that generates talking points both in and out of the cage and this has now extended to his training.
Though it’s far from uncommon to see fighters move between top gyms during their careers, you won’t see many that switch from McGregor’s home base to that of his arch rival’s.
In Walker’s case, working with some of the top grapplers in the sport could help to round out his skill set, making this invaluable training for him.
MMA fans reacted on social media to the images of Walker and Nurmagomedov sharing a mat together.
“If Johnny comes into his next fight with a chin I’m heading to dagestan”
“Ain’t gonna help the Glass chin but sure”
“Good idea to change his fighting style”
“Johnny Walker will become Dessert Eagle”
“If he leaves John Kavanagh for Khabib and AKA, he can maybe turn his career around”
“I know Conor is big mad seeing this. Walker was training at SBG, which is Conor’s gym now hes training at AKA, which is Khabib’s gym…”
“The best move, as proven with all the fighters that go train with them”
“Khabib swap your chin with him he needs it more than you”
