He will not be denied 🤫 @JohnnyWalker wasn’t
going to leave #UFCVegas124 without another heavyweight win under
his belt! https://t.co/3BOk2vIcg8
— UFC (@ufc) November
8, 2026
Johnny
Walker has long been a fan favorite, and in the main event of
UFC Vegas 124, inside Meta Apex in Las Vegas, he delivered another
highlight-reel performance.
Walker (24-10, 1 NC) took his fight with Waldo
Cortes-Acosta on five days’ notice, and he delivered another
knockout to add to his resume. Walker began picking apart
Cortes-Acosta’s leg with kicks early and often and avoided the wild
haymakers “Salsa Boy” kept launching his way. Cortes-Acosta (17-5)
eventually gassed out, and that’s when Walker capitalized.
Walker landed
a question mark kick to Cortes-Acosta’s head, followed by a
back fist to the face. The combo buckled the Dominican’s knees, and
then Walker dropped him with a straight right to the jaw.
Cortes-Acosta was essentially out, but the Brazilian pounced and
unloaded follow-up punches until referee Jason Herzog had to peel
him off. The heavyweight slugfest officially ended at 2:27 of the
third.
Tatiana
Suarez took one step closer to a crack at Mackenzie
Dern’s UFC strawweight title as she dominated Virna
Jandiroba for three rounds, winning a unanimous decision in the
co-main event. Suarez (13-1) landed several solid punches to the
head and body, but she used her strength and wrestling prowess to
dominate and take “Carcara” down multiple times. Suarez won by
judges’ decision via tallies of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28; Jandiroba
fell to 23-5.
Elijah
Smith put the bantamweight division on notice as he obliterated
veteran Davey Grant
(18-9) in exactly one minute. Smith (11-1) landed a glancing right
cross through Grant’s guard and then dropped him with a follow-up
left hook.
A missile of a right hand to the face followed, and “Dangerous”
was no longer dangerous; he was out cold against the cage, giving
Smith arguably his biggest win yet.
Lucas
Fernando busted up Billy
Elekana with dozens of punches and knees to the body early and
often, and he was in cruise control through the first two rounds.
However, Elekana turned the tide in the third with a critical
takedown, but he couldn’t do much with it down the stretch. In the
end, all three judges scored it 29-28 for Fernando (15-3); Elekana
fell to 10-3.
Bantamweight contender Nina
Nikolija Milosevic ragdolled Priscila
Cachoeira and beat her from pillar to post until
the mugging was finally stopped. Milosevic (10-1) took “Zombie
Girl” down seconds into the fight and never relented with her
ground-and-pound. She followed the same blueprint in the second
frame but turned up the heat, clobbering Cachoeira (13-10) with
punches and elbows until referee Jason Herzog finally had no choice
but to intervene. The end mercifully came at 3:40 of the
second.
Mitch
Raposo once again proved the naysayers wrong as he toppled
incoming and streaking Marco Degli via unanimous decision. Raposo
(12-3) landed dozens of crisp punches and kicks all the while
mostly keeping the Brazilian at bay and guessing. Degli (15-4) was
riding a 13-fight winning streak, but Raposo’s game plan was nearly
flawless en route to a 29-28 win across the board, his third
straight win as a betting underdog.
In a featherweight scrum that could have gone either way, Oliver
Schmid prevailed over Keiichiro
Nakamura. The two fought nearly identically on the feet for
most of the fight, and Nakamura (8-2) nearly finished Schmid late
in the third, but “Ollie” persevered and hung on until the final
horn. All three judges scored it 29-28 for Schmid, who improved to
5-3.
Thomas
Petersen was nearly knocked out early in the first round by
Gabriel
Lourenco, but “The Train” hung tough and survived. After nearly
taking his heavyweight opponent out moments into the second round,
Petersen (12-5) eventually wore down Lourenco (8-2) and dished out
punishing ground-and-pound to get the TKO at 4:47 of the
third.
Karine
Silva landed the higher volume of strikes against Gabriella
Fernandes to win a close unanimous decision. Silva (20-7) never
hurt “Gabi,” but she was busier and won the flyweight battle on
29-28 scores from all three judges. Fernandes fell to 11-5.
Murtazali
Magomedov had to dig deep in order to remain unbeaten as a pro
with a razor-thin unanimous decision win over Jose
Mauro Delano at featherweight. Delano (17-4) was much better on
the feet and picked “The Highlight” apart but eventually Magomedov
began scoring takedowns and controlling the pace. Magomedov (12-0)
dropped his foe with mere seconds remaining in the fight but
couldn’t put him away and instead settled for a decision win via
tallies of 29-28 across the board.
Rising contender Austin
Bashi made quick work of Carlos
Calderon (11-5) as he tapped him out in just 67 seconds.
Calderon missed a guillotine attempt, and Bashi (15-2) scrambled,
took his featherweight foe’s back, and locked in a textbook
rear-naked choke. Calderon
tried to escape, but he eventually had no choice but to bow
out.
Andre
Petroski got back in the win column with an emphatic stoppage
win over Mantas
Kondratavicius late in the second round. Petroski (14-6) scored
a takedown, and from there, he started unloading steady
ground-and-pound; Kondratavicius (9-2) was doomed. Petroski
rained down punches and elbows until referee Chris Tognoni
intervened, ending the middleweight beating at 4:39.
Korea’s Seok Hyeon
Ko thoroughly dominated Wellington
Turman (18-9) for three rounds, winning a lopsided unanimous
decision. Ko (14-3) used a better overall striking game early in
the welterweight contest but switched to takedowns and control on
the ground in the final round to win 30-27 on all three official
scorecards.
Jose
Henrique Souza (10-1) left no doubt in the Octagon today,
flattening veteran Jonny
Parsons in the opening round. “Canela” delivered a perfectly
timed right uppercut to Parsons’ jaw, then followed with a left
hook. Parsons (9-4)
fell flat on his back, out cold, ending the welterweight
skirmish at the 4:16 mark of the first round.