Johnny Walker has the worst Khamzat impression || UFC Shanghai recap

UFC Shanghai was chaos from the jump, and in this video we’re breaking down everything that went down—from Johnny Walker shaving his mustache and pulling off the worst Khamzat impression in MMA history.

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Chapters:
0:00 Johnny Walker’s terrible Khamzat impression
8:26 Aljamain Sterling the boxer
16:31 Sergei Pavlovich didn’t suck
23:22 Don’t get discouraged, Lone’er Kavangh

First up, Johnny Walker vs. Mingyang Zhang. If you missed it, I don’t blame you, but Johnny pulled off the most Johnny Walker performance ever. Shoots a takedown after a fake touch, ends up on bottom, gets beat up, then wins when Zhang’s knee gives out. I’m not even calling this a Walker win as much as a Zhang loss. Zhang looked like a beast but didn’t cut the cage and couldn’t adjust. Still, he’s only 27. He’s got time to rebound and clean up the ring awareness and cage cutting. This fight showed us Walker is still the wild card of the division, and while the ending wasn’t pretty, he didn’t let Zhang off the hook.

I talked about Jack Dempsey in the middle of all this because Walker kind of fought like it was a street fight. When he saw the opening, he pounced and didn’t let up. That old Dempsey mentality of no let-up until the job’s done. Walker brought it.

In the co-main, Aljamain Sterling made his featherweight debut against Brian Ortega. I thought we’d see some wild grappling exchanges, but nah, that’s not what we got. Sterling landed a spinning back elbow, jabbed well, and used his low kicks to chip away. Ortega’s boxing looked okay but, like always, the volume just wasn’t there. Ortega throws too little to keep guys off him. And Sterling? Not the most powerful guy, but he’s smart and knows how to gameplan. His control time on the ground was all guard work, but it was effective. He pinned Ortega’s hips to the fence and nullified any triangle or armbar attempts. I was impressed. There’s still work to do, but he could be trouble for guys like Arnold Allen or even Volkanovski.

Speaking of grappling, let’s talk Pavlovich vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta. This one was slow. Pavlovich looked like he’s trying to evolve—less berserker, more tactician. He used his jab, tried to cut the cage, but wasn’t the monster he used to be. That said, he won. Waldo’s a sneaky good fighter. If you’re not careful, he’ll steal rounds. But Pavlovich stayed composed and handled business. He’s working on his weaknesses, which we saw exposed by Aspinall and Volkov. He may not be exciting anymore, but he’s not done.

Then there was Sumudaerji vs. Kevin Borjas. I really like Borjas, but he’s struggling in the UFC. He’s fun, but he needs to make some serious adjustments. Sumudaerji looked sharp, calm, and technical. Got the job done.

Now the Kiefer Crosbie fight was wild. Nuerdanbieke landed an illegal knee. Clear as day. Crosbie should’ve taken time to recover, but he didn’t. He wanted to fight and got knocked out right after. That’s the kind of stuff that needs to be addressed. Illegal shots matter, and you can’t fight compromised.

Lonnie Kavanagh vs. Charles Johnson hurt me. I was rooting for Kavanagh. He looked like a future contender. He was flowing, throwing great combinations, and showing off grappling skills too. But he got complacent. Dropped his hand on an exit, brought his feet together, and Charles Johnson made him pay. Lights out. Kavanagh’s 9-1 now and should absolutely not be discouraged. Look at Joshua Van. Same thing happened to him, and now he’s fighting for a title. The road is long. Kavanagh will be back.

Rong Zhu beat Austin Hubbard in a fun scrap. Hubbard’s tough but he’s hit his ceiling. Zhu’s showing improvements and I think he’s got some real potential in the lightweight division. Good hands, smart with space, and keeps developing.

Kyle Daukaus returned to the UFC and knocked out Michel Pereira. Pereira’s chin is gone. Daukaus looked clean, calculated, and patient. It’s a solid return win for a guy who’s been through the grinder.

Then there was Weston Wilson flying around the world for a 30-second loss to Yusaku Kinoshita. Brutal.

We also got a slick Ezekiel choke on the prelims. Some of these undercard fights were wild. You had some really cool moments in the grappling exchanges. A lot of guys pushing the pace and trying new stuff.