Half-brothers Johnny Walker and Valter Walker are both top-ranked heavyweights, but the idea of someday fighting each other doesn’t cross their minds.
Johnny could move even higher in the heavyweights rankings should he win this Saturday in Las Vegas, where he battles Waldo Cortes-Acosta on short notice in the main event of UFC Vegas 124. Coming off a successful heavyweight debut in October, when he finished Mick Parkin with a flying knee knockout, Johnny said he isn’t “crazy” enough to agree to fighting his brother Valter, currently on a five-fight win streak with five first-round submissions.
“No, man. Am I going to fight my own brother? Are you crazy?” Johnny told MMA Fighting. “I go in there to hurt other people. I don’t want to hurt my own blood, you know? Fighting is a very violent sport. If you stop and think about it, when we’re in there, it’s something very primitive. We want to rip the other guy’s head off. We don’t care. We can’t be thinking about whether the guy has a mother or children, because otherwise you’re the one who’s going to get f*cked. If you feel sorry for the guy, he’s going to rip your head off, you know? So when we step in there, man, it’s one guy trying to kill the other. That’s just how it is. You signed the contract, you know what you’re getting into. But doing that to your own brother, someone who shares your blood, there’s no way. Unless the guy is completely crazy — and I’m not that crazy.”
Johnny and Valter have been close in the past, training together in Russia, but, like every family, they have also experienced sensitive moments. Johnny is happy to see his brother succeed in the sport, but laments not being able to be more present in his day-to-day life after Valter’s humorous behavior online hurt feelings in the family.
“I just wish we could spend more time together and be more connected, too,” Johnny said. “But he jokes around too much and is often disrespectful, so it makes it difficult to get closer to him. I would like to be close to my brother. I’d like to have a brother I could count on 100 percent, but his jokes and crazy behavior end up upsetting my mother, my wife, and even his own fans.
“But I think it’s a matter of age, right? He’s 28. I think by the time he turns 30 he’ll mature, and then I’ll be able to count on him more. But we do talk, we’re good, everything’s fine. I just have to keep a little distance because he’s a loose cannon [laughs]. But he’s gotten a lot better with me lately. Still, all the shit he’s done along the way doesn’t just disappear, right? All that stuff is still online and people remember it, too. So I hope he keeps being the way he is now, continues improving, and stays out of trouble for at least a few years so people can forget about all the shit he’s done. Then things will work out.”
“I don’t care,” he continued. “It’s disrespectful, and it upsets me, but what can I do? He’s an idiot. There’s nothing I can do about it. I accept him the way he is, and I love him the way he is. I wish he would change for the better. Maybe one day. We’ll see.”
Johnny is down to reunite for more training, if his brother flies to Las Vegas to tag along. Valter, however, would need a hotel room in the city.
“[We can train] whenever he wants,” Johnny said. “He can already come train with me if he wants to help me out during any fight camp. He just can’t stay at my house. My wife won’t let him in [laughs]. But training? That’s fine. He can rent a hotel room and stay at a hotel. We can train together, no problem. He just can’t come into my house.”
