Zhang Mingyang admits he didn’t want to fight Johnny Walker, but sees one major incentive.
Mingyang (19-6 MMA, 3-0 UFC) takes on Walker (21-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 257 headliner (ESPN+) at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China.
Walker is ranked one spot above Mingyang in the UFC’s light heavyweight rankings, but is winless in his past three fights. Mingyang revealed that he wasn’t too keen on the matchup.
“Johnny fights in a very unorthodox way,” Mingyang told MMA Junkie Radio through an interpreter. “So even for me, for this camp, I need to bring many different training partners to help me kind of mimic Johnny’s style because you cannot find one individual fighter who can fight like Johnny. The only reason I took this fight is because everybody who beat Johnny became the champion. That’s the reason I took this fight. Other than that, I would say no.”
Mingyang has never gone past Round 1 in all 19 of his professional wins. He is coming off a first-round knockout of former title challenger Anthony Smith at UFC on ESPN 66 in April.
“I never chase a first-round finish in all my previous fights,” Mingyang said. “I always prepared for either a three-round or five-round fight. But when I step into the cage, when the fights starts, if I see any openings or any holes from my opponents, I will catch it.”
