UFC light heavyweight contender Johnny Walker went to unconventional lengths to become more English-fluent.
Johnny Walker is one of the most exciting light heavyweights in the UFC, known for his wild knockouts and unorthodox post-fight celebrations. While he’s struggled in the Octagon as of late, Walker remains a UFC fan favorite as he looks to get back in the win column after three consecutive winless outings.
Walker’s UFC tenure has featured plenty of head-scratching moments, good and bad, including an injury he suffered while celebrating one of his knockout victories. After knocking out Misha Cirkunov with a flying knee at UFC 235, Walker dislocated his shoulder while dancing in his post-fight celebration.
Walker is comfortable in interview settings and has demonstrated vastly improved English from the beginning of his stay in the UFC. But it took a lot of time, effort, and some unconventional methods to become more fluent in the predominant language of the UFC fanbase.
Johnny Walker’s unconventional way of learning English paid big dividends
Walker is one of many fighters who have put in a lot of effort behind the scenes to learn English and relate better to the U.S. and UK UFC fan bases. Anderson Silva, Song Yadong, and other UFC stars have ingratiated themselves with UFC fans quickly by taking on the immense challenge of learning the English language.
Walker is well-traveled, after training with Conor McGregor at SBG Ireland and, at one point, training in Russia with his brother, Valter, to prepare for some of MMA’s top grapplers. While living in Scotland before being signed by the UFC, Walker decided to become more fluent in English by using two popular smartphone apps.
But one of the apps Walker used to learn English might surprise you.
During a recent appearance on the Verse Us with Eric Nicksick podcast, Walker shared how he learned English while training in Mixed Martial Arts in Scotland early in his career.
“My best teachers were Duolingo and Tinder,” “I had f—— 100 matches on Tinder, and I’m not saying I’m a very handsome guy, but I was a gringo there. They wanted a guy that was different than what they see, different than f—– blonde guys there…
“‘Hey, how are you? Whatchu doing?’, and with Duolingo, in three months I was fluent!”
Luckily for Walker, his earlier Tinder dating app use has paid off. He’s become one of the biggest stars in the UFC light heavyweight division and is beloved by fight fans around the world.
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Johnny Walker’s brother is one of the heavyweight division’s brightest young stars
Similar to the initial hype Johnny drew earlier in his UFC career, Valter is drawing stark comparisons in the heavyweight division. After earning a rare submission win at UFC Vegas 102, Valter ragdolled Johnny as the two brothers celebrated the victory.
Valter has won back-to-back fights since losing his UFC debut to Lukasz Brzeski by unanimous decision last year. He most recently tapped Don’Tale Mayes with a heel hook submission in February in the first round.
Valter and Johnny are the latest siblings to find immense success in the UFC Octagon, and as they plot their returns, both continue to ingratiate themselves with the UFC fans.
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