Johnny Walker stopped Waldo Cortes-Acosta with punches at 2:27 of Round 3 in the heavyweight main event of UFC Vegas 124 on Saturday, November 7, 2026, at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas. The UFC also gave both men Fight of the Night honors, according to the promotion's bonus announcement.
How the finish came
According to Sherdog, Walker spent the early rounds attacking Cortes-Acosta's legs and slipping his wild punches. As Cortes-Acosta tired, Walker began to counter. A question-mark kick to the head and a backfist buckled Cortes-Acosta's knees, and a straight right to the jaw put him down.
Sherdog reported that Cortes-Acosta was essentially unconscious, and that Walker kept punching until referee Jason Herzog pulled him away. Sherdog also reported that Walker took the fight on five days' notice.
The fight was far from one-sided. Cortes-Acosta put pressure on Walker early and dropped him, and the UFC statistics list one knockdown for each fighter.
After the fight, Walker was quoted by AgentMMA on X as saying: "F*** everyone who said I don't have a chin!"
What it means for both men
Walker improves to 24-10 with one no contest, and 10-7 with one no contest in the UFC, according to Sherdog. Our database has him ranked 12th at heavyweight.
This was his second fight at heavyweight. On October 3 at UFC 332 he beat Mick Parkin by TKO in Round 1, which makes it two straight finishes in the division. Before that he lost a decision to Dominick Reyes at light heavyweight in April at UFC 327.
Cortes-Acosta drops to 17-5, and 10-5 in the UFC. He came in ranked eighth at heavyweight in our data, and this is his third defeat in a row. He lost decisions to Alexander Volkov in May and Curtis Blaydes in September, after a second-round knockout of Derrick Lewis in January.
The rest of the card
In the co-main event, Tatiana Suarez beat Virna Jandiroba by unanimous decision in a strawweight bout, moving to 13-1. Suarez is ranked third in the UFC strawweight division in our data and Jandiroba second. Jandiroba was coming off a win over Tabatha Ricci in April. Champion Mackenzie Dern, who defended her belt against Gillian Robertson in August, is the next name for the division's contenders to chase.
No next fight has been announced for Walker or Cortes-Acosta in the sources we reviewed.
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Sources
This article was generated with AI and may contain errors.