After the news that Sean Brady withdrew due to an injury against Gabriel Bonfim for the main event of UFC Vegas 124, the UFC has put together a last-minute main event for November 7. In the heavyweight division, Waldo Cortes-Acosta takes on Johnny Walker.
Multiple sources have confirmed the match-up to Heavy.com after an initial report from Brazilian MMA journalist Laerte Viana. Cortes-Acosta is currently ranked number six in the UFC Media rankings and number eight in the UFC Meta rankings, while his opponent, Walker, is only ranked at number 12 in the Meta rankings.
Saving 2026
Despite it being a very short-notice fight, Cortes-Acosta knows that losing is not an option against Vitor Petrino. The fighter from the Dominican Republic came into the UFC in 2022 through the Contender Series. Cortes-Acosta was seen as a future top-10 fighter but lost in his third UFC fight against Marcos Rogério de Lima via unanimous decision. The hype around the big man from the Dominican Republic wasn’t as loud anymore. He was able to win his next five fights, including wins over Serghei Spivac and Ryan Spann. Because of the streak, he got matched up against the highly ranked Sergei Pavlovich.
The Russian beat Cortes-Acosta via unanimous decision. After that fight last August, Cortes-Acosta went on a finishing spree. He finished Ante Delija, Shamil Gaziev, and Derrick Lewis within 90 days. It earned him a shot against top contender Alexander Volkov earlier this year. Volkov was able to neutralize Cortes-Acosta and beat him after three rounds. Recently, Cortes-Acosta came up short in a very underwhelming performance against Curtis Blaydes. Cortes-Acosta needs to break his two-fight losing skid when he takes on Johnny Walker.
A New Weight Class
For Johnny Walker, it will be a massive opportunity to get into the top 8 of the division in his second heavyweight fight. The former contender at light-heavyweight switched weight classes earlier this year. Walker fought between 2018 and 2026 in the light-heavyweight division. After being called the next superstar and ‘the guy to beat Jon Jones’, Walker won his first three UFC fights in the first round, but then got on a bad run, winning only one of his next five fights. Between 2022 and 2023, Walker was able to put together a winning streak of three fights and fought himself back into title contention.
Unfortunately, he lost by knockout against both Magomed Ankalaev and Volkan Oezdemir in 2024. After bouncing back last year with a win over Zhang Mingyang, Walker already spoke about jumping up a weight class to heavyweight. Despite early talks, Walker took on Dominick Reyes at light-heavyweight. After losing an uneventful split decision, he decided to go to heavyweight. Earlier this month, he beat Mick Parkin via knockout in the first round. Now he is back to take on Waldo Cortes-Acosta. A win would propel him into the top 8 of the division.
UFC Vegas 124 – Las Vegas (November 7)
Main Card
- Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Johnny Walker
- Tatiana Suarez vs. Virna Jandiroba
- Davey Grant vs. Elijah Smith
- SeokHyeon Ko vs. Wellington Turman
- Mantas Kondratavičius vs. Andre Petroski
- Billy Elekana vs. Lucas Fernando
Preliminary Card
- Gabriel Lorenço vs. Thomas Petersen
- Karine Silva vs. Gabriella Fernandes
- Mitch Raposo vs. Marcos Degli
- José Delano vs. Murtazali Magomedov
- Keiichiro Nakamura vs. Ollie Schmid
- Austin Bashi vs. Lucas Brennan
- Priscila Cachoeira vs. Nina Milošević
- Jonny Parsons vs. José Henrique Souza
UFC Vegas 124 Gets Brand New Heavyweight Headliner