Tyler Durden 
Johnny Walker is officially a contender in the UFC heavyweight division.
The former light heavyweight staple has turned over a new leaf in his past two fights since moving up to the sport’s heaviest weight class. Walker scored a big knockout of Mick Parkin in his divisional debut in early October, then repeated the favor against Waldo Cortes-Acosta in UFC Vegas 124’s main event on Saturday.
Although he’s still early in his heavyweight run, Walker has leapfrogged over his younger half-brother, UFC contender Valter Walker, who is surging through the division with submission after submission. Walker said on Monday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show” that he and Valter train together regularly, but they aren’t as close as he would like.
“He has a bad sense of humor. He talks s*** sometimes,” Walker told Uncrowned. “He stopped, but what he did in the past, since the China fight [in August 2025], he said so many bad things about my mom and my wife online as a joke. That’s not a good thing to do for clicks.
“What he did in the past hurts people’s hearts. Not hurt my heart, but I get annoyed because you can’t go online and talk s*** about my mom and my family, my son. Play with me in private, but to go online and talk s***, it’s no good.”
Johnny and Valter share the same father, which seemingly prompted Valter’s comments about Johnny’s mother.
According to Johnny, that’s where Valter crossed a line, in addition to bringing Johnny’s wife and child into the crassness.
“My mom is very religious,” Walker said. “He said online that his dad f***ed my mom, so that’s very disrespectful. He also said if I lost my fight in China, my wife would cheat on me with a big Black guy. Another time he said, ‘Let’s fight, and whoever wins f***s the other’s wife.’ Then he said my son has a big head. Everything he said is online, so that’s no good.
“I know he’s an idiot and just has a bad sense of humor; he stopped now, but I hope he grows up a little bit more and stops talking s*** about me. I love him, bro. I want to be close to him. I miss having a brother close to me.
“My brother can’t come to my house in Vegas because my wife doesn’t want him here. I would love to have my brother close to me, respect me; we were raised and trained together. But what he did in the past hurts people’s hearts and takes longer to heal from it. I don’t know when my mom and my wife will forgive him and forget what he did.”
After Johnny’s latest win over Cortes-Acosta, he’s lined up for another big heavyweight contender bout in his next time out. Valter, meanwhile, is continuing his ascent up the ranks with a historic five-fight win streak consisting entirely of first-round leg-lock submissions.
The brothers still speak daily, Johnny says. Even with the past problems Valter has caused for Johnny and his side of their family, don’t expect to see a Walker civil war inside the cage any time soon.
“I’ll never fight my brother,” Walker said. “He would never fight me. He respects me as a man in that way. We’re good. He just has a bad sense of humor and a little bit of a lack of respect for others. He’s a good man inside. He just needs some discipline. Maybe a lack of presence to let him get close. Maybe he’ll think a bit and get better. Give more value for family.”
