Johnny Walker Stops Cortes-Acosta, Hutchinson Takes the WBC Belt

LAS VEGAS \u2014

The main event was not even on the card a little over a week ago. By the time it ended, Johnny Walker had chopped down a top-10 heavyweight, taken a few of the division\u2019s hardest shots without going anywhere, and finished the night doing the worm in the middle of the Octagon. Heavyweight suits him.

Walker (24-10) stopped Waldo Cortes-Acosta (17-5) at 2:27 of the third round at UFC Vegas 124 at the Meta APEX, in a fight the two men took on short notice after the original headliner \u2014 Gabriel Bonfim against Sean Brady \u2014 fell apart when Brady was forced out. Walker opened by hammering Cortes-Acosta\u2019s lead leg, absorbed the Dominican\u2019s wild forward pressure, and survived being put down and ridden out late in the second. In the third, a question-mark kick wobbled Cortes-Acosta, a backfist kept him wobbling, and a clean right hand put him down. Referee Jason Herzog pulled Walker off, and that was that: two heavyweight fights, two stoppage wins, after October\u2019s knockout of Mick Parkin.

Cortes-Acosta has now lost three straight, the previous two on the cards against Alexander Volkov and Curtis Blaydes. Walker, meanwhile, told the crowd his chin had answered its critics, and MMA Junkie reported he plans to be in New York next weekend when Ciryl Gane and Josh Hokit meet for the vacant heavyweight title at UFC 334. A man who was supposed to ease into this division is suddenly standing near the front of its line.

The co-main event carried the card\u2019s highest stakes. Tatiana Suarez beat Virna Jandiroba by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in a meeting of top-five strawweights and former title challengers, her wrestling and top control doing the work across three rounds. Both women came in looking to build a case for a shot at champion Mackenzie Dern; Suarez leaves with the only case that got stronger.

The night\u2019s loudest minute belonged to Elijah Smith. The 24-year-old bantamweight knocked out veteran Davey Grant at exactly 1:00 of the first round \u2014 the first knockout loss of Grant\u2019s long career \u2014 to move to 11-1 and 4-0 in the UFC, with a nine-fight winning streak. Heavy reported it was the final fight on his current contract, which makes the timing of a career-best knockout either perfect or expensive, depending on which side of the table you sit on.

The rest of the main card: Lucas Fernando outpointed Billy Elekana (29-28 across the board), Nina Milosevic stopped Priscila Cachoeira with ground and pound at 3:40 of the second, and Mitch Raposo edged Marcos Degli (29-28 across the board). On the prelims, Thomas Petersen produced the comeback of the night \u2014 nearly finished in the first round by Gabriel Lorenco, he rallied to force a stoppage with 13 seconds left in the third. Jose Souza opened the show by flattening Jonny Parsons with an uppercut at 4:16 of the first, Austin Bashi needed 67 seconds to choke out late replacement Carlos Calderon, and Andre Petroski ended a three-fight slide by stopping Mantas Kondratavicius in the second.

The bonuses matched the action. Walker and Cortes-Acosta shared Fight of the Night, worth $100,000 each; Smith and Petersen took Performance of the Night honors at $100,000 each; and $25,000 finish bonuses also went to Bashi, Petroski and Souza, among the night\u2019s early winners.

Manchester: Hutchinson finishes the story

Two years after Joshua Buatsi beat him by split decision, Willy Hutchinson (21-2, 14 KOs) ran the rematch back and took the one thing that was missing. Hutchinson outboxed Buatsi (20-2, 13 KOs) over 12 rounds at the AO Arena, winning 117-112, 115-113 and 115-113 to claim the WBC light heavyweight title vacated by David Benavidez, who elected to campaign at cruiserweight.

Buatsi pressed and worked the body when he could get inside, but Hutchinson\u2019s footwork kept the fight at his range and his single shots kept scoring. Buatsi emptied the tank in the last two rounds; it was too late on every card. On the undercard, Jack Rafferty stayed unbeaten with a unanimous decision over Hovhannes Martirosyan, flooring him in the twelfth; Bradley Rea stopped Ezra Taylor in the second; and Gully Powar won the British featherweight title on a technical decision over Zak Miller, who was ruled out by the ringside physician in the tenth because of swelling across his forehead.

London: Clarke stops a former champion

At the Copper Box, Chev Clarke did in the pros what he had done to Chris Billam-Smith before either man was paid for it. Clarke dropped the former WBO cruiserweight champion twice and stopped him at 1:24 of the seventh round to headline Zuffa Boxing 12, earning a Performance of the Night bonus in the process. Billam-Smith (22-3) had never lacked for durability; Clarke found it twice in one round and the referee had seen enough.

Denzel Bentley (23-3-1) took the co-main event on the cards against Shane Mosley Jr. (23-6) \u2014 96-94, 96-93, 95-94 in a fight good enough to earn both men Fight of the Night. Umar Dzambekov (15-0) stayed perfect by folding Zach Parker with a fourth-round body shot, and heavyweight Da\u2019Mazion Vanhouter stopped Ivan Balaz in the first.

Albuquerque and Glasgow: one title kept, one won in 101 seconds

Pedro Taduran is still the IBF minimumweight champion. The Filipino southpaw defended his 105-pound title for the fourth time at the Kiva Auditorium, beating Spain\u2019s Brandon Moreno by unanimous decision \u2014 120-108 on one card, 115-113 on the other two \u2014 with the pressure and volume that have carried his whole reign. Taduran moves to 21-4-1; Moreno (16-1) takes the first loss of his career. In the DAZN main event on the same floor, hometown flyweight Abraham Perez stayed unbeaten at 16-0, dropping Yankiel Rivera in the second round on his way to a wide unanimous decision.

And in Glasgow, BKFC\u2019s first show in Scotland ended almost as soon as its main event started. Sean Weir (4-0) dropped late replacement Leigh Cohoon (4-2) three times and stopped him at 1:41 of the first round at a sold-out OVO Hydro to win the vacant BKFC UK light heavyweight title in front of his own crowd. Danny Christie stopped former UFC fighter Stevie Ray in the second round on the same card, and Gzim Selmani outpointed Reece Heer in a heavyweight fight scored 50-43 on all three cards.

Three countries, five cards, three world-level titles decided and one heavyweight division with a new problem in it. Saturday set the table; next weekend in New York, Walker plans to be ringside to watch the heavyweight title picture sort itself out \u2014 and after nights like this one, nobody in that division gets to pretend he is not part of it. For Friday\u2019s action, see our ONE Fight Night 49 results, and keep up with the whole slate on the Previously sports front.