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Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight Valter Walker is not the type of guy who keeps his opinions to himself.
Parked outside of the UFC’s top 10 at heavyweight looking in, Walker spoke with Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana on Thursday to discuss the plight of his division. With no active champion—Tom Aspinall has stated he informed the UFC he will be coming back soon, but there is no date on the calendar—and an interim title back in the works again, Walker sees that the division may be wide open. Even so, he sees a chasm of talent in his class, while holding off-and-on training partner Sergei Pavlovich in extremely high regard.
Walker first spoke about his own prospects, where he freely admitted that he is not where he feels he needs to be to challenge the best in his weight category.
“You have to know which doors to open,” Walker said in regards to what heavyweight has to offer him in the immediate future. “For example, I don’t think I’m ready to fight anyone in the top five yet. The level is different. I train with a top-three heavyweight, so I know exactly what his level is.”
Further along in his interview, Walker made no bones about his confidence in his part-time teammate. With former two-division champ Alex Pereira currently up at heavyweight looking for his next challenge, a pairing between “Poatan” and Pavlovich has been floated as a potential option.
When asked how he sees a potential matchup between “Poatan” and Pavlovich, in case the UFC decides to pit their third-ranked and fourth-ranked athletes against one another, the Brazilian answered without hesitation.
“I don’t think Pavlovich is a good comeback opponent for [Pereira],” Walker remarked. “Sergei is a heavyweight built like a tank. Before, he wasn’t really training with a proper team, but now he’s fully committed and working with a structured camp in a big team. In my opinion, Pavlovich would run right through him. That’s exactly what he does here in the gym, and what he did to ‘Xicao’ [Tallison Teixeira]. I don't think ‘Poatan’ has the frame to stop him.”
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Parked outside of the UFC’s top 10 at heavyweight looking in, Walker spoke with Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana on Thursday to discuss the plight of his division. With no active champion—Tom Aspinall has stated he informed the UFC he will be coming back soon, but there is no date on the calendar—and an interim title back in the works again, Walker sees that the division may be wide open. Even so, he sees a chasm of talent in his class, while holding off-and-on training partner Sergei Pavlovich in extremely high regard.
Walker first spoke about his own prospects, where he freely admitted that he is not where he feels he needs to be to challenge the best in his weight category.
“You have to know which doors to open,” Walker said in regards to what heavyweight has to offer him in the immediate future. “For example, I don’t think I’m ready to fight anyone in the top five yet. The level is different. I train with a top-three heavyweight, so I know exactly what his level is.”
“I don’t think Pavlovich is a good comeback opponent for [Pereira]”
Further along in his interview, Walker made no bones about his confidence in his part-time teammate. With former two-division champ Alex Pereira currently up at heavyweight looking for his next challenge, a pairing between “Poatan” and Pavlovich has been floated as a potential option.
When asked how he sees a potential matchup between “Poatan” and Pavlovich, in case the UFC decides to pit their third-ranked and fourth-ranked athletes against one another, the Brazilian answered without hesitation.
“I don’t think Pavlovich is a good comeback opponent for [Pereira],” Walker remarked. “Sergei is a heavyweight built like a tank. Before, he wasn’t really training with a proper team, but now he’s fully committed and working with a structured camp in a big team. In my opinion, Pavlovich would run right through him. That’s exactly what he does here in the gym, and what he did to ‘Xicao’ [Tallison Teixeira]. I don't think ‘Poatan’ has the frame to stop him.”
Continue reading...
