Preview: UFC Fight Night 234 ‘Ankalaev vs. Walker 2’

The Ultimate Fighting Championship throws open the curtain to 2024 on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 234 and a return to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main event, a light heavyweight rematch between Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker, straddles the line between necessary and unnecessary. Ankalaev seemingly had a win well in hand before their previous encounter ended in a no contest. Beyond that, there are some excellent pairings. A flyweight co-main event matching Matheus Nicolau with Manel Kape and a bantamweight showcase pitting Ricky Simon against Mario Bautista are well-made fights with high stakes in two of the UFC’s deepest divisions. Plus, it is always nice to see Jim Miller back in action, as he makes his record 43rd trip to the Octagon against Gabriel Benitez. Mix in a compelling bout involving eternal prospect Phil Hawes to round it all out, and this looks like a tight five-fight table setter for UFC 297.

Now to the UFC Fight Night 234 “Ankalaev vs. Walker 2” preview:

Light Heavyweights

#3 LHW | Magomed Ankalaev (17-1-1, 9-1-1 UFC) vs. #7 LHW | Johnny Walker (21-7, 7-4 UFC)

ODDS: Ankalaev (-455), Walker (+350)

Ankalaev might be the most talented light heavyweight in the world skill for skill, but this marks yet another detour in a march to the title that seems absolutely cursed. Ankalaev made his UFC debut in 2018 and seemed poised to hit the ground running. He had shown some solid striking and the ability to absolutely maul opponents on the mat once he was able to score a takedown. Indeed, Ankalaev showed off all his wares in what was a dominant debut against Paul Craig—up until the point that the Scotsman latched on a desperation triangle choke and scored the submission with one second remaining in the fight. It is still a stunning result, but Ankalaev rebounded with a series of patient but dominant wins for the rest of 2018 and all of 2019. However, things went strangely sideways in 2020. Ankalaev was matched with Ion Cutelaba, who figured to be an interesting test. By that point Ankalaev was clearly most comfortable in a slow-paced fight that he could dictate, while Cutelaba figured to bring the chaos and test if the Russian could keep up. Ankalaev kept up and then some, knocking the Moldovan silly in a 38-second sprint, only for Cutelaba to quickly recover and claim he was exaggerating his wobbliness to try and lure his counterpart into a trap. A rematch was put on the books but constantly fell apart thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, and once it happened, Ankalaev quickly knocked Cutelaba out again, proving that most of the last year had been a bit of a waste. Ankalaev kept winning from there, though he looked less and less inspiring as he worked his way up the ladder. There was no doubt that he was better than everyone he faced, but he was content to neutralize his opponents in fights that rarely proved entertaining. Still, wins were wins, so Ankalaev found himself in a title fight against Jan Blachowicz at the end of 2022, which wound up as a slow-paced affair that he probably did enough to win. However, the decision came in as a split draw and left the title vacant, and the UFC quickly moved on from both Ankalaev and Blachowicz to crown a new champion. Ankalaev was left to rebound against Walker in what seemed like a winnable fight in October. Walker’s size could prove intimidating, but Ankalaev figured to have the tools to exploit the many holes in the Brazilian’s game. He found an opening to get the ball rolling towards a first-round finish—until an illegal knee ended the fight in a no contest, temporarily stalling Ankalaev’s career once again and resulting in an immediate rematch.

As for Walker, he has been on his own long and winding path since making it to the UFC in 2018. Walker earned his contract with an ugly win over UFC vet Henrique da Silva on Dana White’s Contender Series, and there was not much reason for optimism about his UFC career save for his athletic potential. As such, it was a shock when it took Walker all of four months to become a breakout star. He scored quick knockouts of Khalil Rountree, Justin Ledet and Misha Cirkunov in that span, all while showing off the strange charisma that has continued to endear him to fans. However, that proved to be a bit of a high-water mark for Walker in terms of hype. He managed to injure himself in his post-fight celebration following the Cirkunov win and hit a clear ceiling upon his recovery, getting knocked out by Corey Anderson and outwrestled by Nikita Krylov. After another injury layoff, his 2021 return against Thiago Santos showed a fighter clearly overcompensating for his prior issues. No longer his typical whirlwind, Walker was one-half of one of the worst fights in recent memory, staying at range and constantly feinting while throwing out very little in terms of actual offense. Walker eventually came out of the wilderness and put together three straight wins leading into the first Ankalaev fight, but the magic does seem to be gone a bit. Wins over Cutelaba and Craig mostly saw those opponents quickly implode on their own, and a decision victory over Anthony Smith showed that Walker can consistently commit to range offense but never ramp up past a simmer. With all that said, being an absolutely gigantic light heavyweight willing to peck at opponents from a distance could prove quite fruitful in a division that generally lacks technical depth. Yet given how the first fight went between these two—and how badly Walker reacted once Ankalaev was able to penetrate his defenses—it is hard not to see the Russian breaking this fight open at some point and scoring a one-sided win. The pick is Ankalaev via second-round knockout.

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Ankalaev vs. Walker
Kape vs. Nicolau
Miller vs. Benitez
Simon vs. Bautista
Ferreira vs. Hawes
The Prelims