Conor McGregor’s longtime gym, SBG Ireland, has produced some notable UFC fighters over the years, but Johnny Walker doesn’t feel it’s the right place for him anymore. The once-promising Brazilian light heavyweight is on a 3-fight losing streak and hopes that a change in coaching will help him get to the promised land.
Walker started his UFC career with a lot of promise, winning his first 4 fights with ease, only associated with future champions. But then his chin started giving out. He has since been knocked out so many times that his weak chin has become a part of MMA pop culture. It’s gone beyond the surface-level memes on Instagram and Twitter. There are now multiple subreddits about how bad his chin is and how it has led to a catastrophic fall in his career.
— THE UFCGUY (@the_ufcguy) January 31, 2025
Needless to say, Walker wants to work on it. He needs to work on it if becoming a UFC world champion is still a goal for him. Luckily, he realizes that only a fool does the same things and expects different results. So now, he’s leaving Conor McGregor and his coach John Kavanagh’s Straight Blast Gym to join former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Corture’s Xtreme Couture.
Walker acknowledged the Kavanagh’s impact on his game but revealed that a lack of high-level training partners led to his departure,
“[John Kavanagh] improved my game, he helped me so much, but I did not have big guys there [to train with]….I had boxing guys there but no high-level MMA guys…I didn’t have high-level guys like every day to train.”
Johnny Walker explains why he left SBG Ireland for Xtreme Couture”
“[John Kavanagh] improved my game, he helped me so much but I did not have big guys there [to train with].”
( @DamonMartin) pic.twitter.com/QWjXnMQnLC
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) January 30, 2025
Walker will now resume his training under Xtreme Couture’s head coach Eric Nicksick. Nicksick has previously trained world beaters like Francis Ngannou and currently coaches some of the UFC’s top names, including Sean Strickland, Manel Kape, Chris Curtis, and Roman Dolidze.
Whether this move will take his career to new heights remains to be seen, but with a fresh camp and world-class training, Walker seems determined to evolve as a fighter.
Walker is leaving nothing to chance
This new move means Walker will now uproot his life in Ireland and move to Las Vegas in the USA. He admits that he had to be a little selfish to make that decision but ultimately, his career was limited in time, and he knew he couldn’t fight forever.
This realization pushed him to make necessary changes in his training approach. Vegas is the fight capital of the world and will grant him easy access to the best facilities.
“I have the UFC P.I. (Performance Institute), I have strength and conditioning, I have nutrition, physiotherapy, recovery, and I’m training at Xtreme Couture. Coach Eric has everyday of the week, between top 10 to top 15 guys training there.”
Walker is clearly leaving nothing to chance and it’s high time he did that. At 31, with his talent, he was already expected to be fighting for the title. He certainly has the potential to be a champion. The light heavyweight division has always produced mavericks. It was also the home to Glover Texeira, the oldest world champion in UFC history. So, Walker has time. It will now depend on how he uses it.
