Valter Walker wrote his title within the historical past books by scoring consecutive heel hook finishes contained in the octagon, a primary for UFC heavyweights, and he desires to make that his factor.
Walker pressured Junior Tafa to stop within the first spherical of their UFC 305 combat in August 2024. Six months later, Don’Tale Mayes fell in his lure and tapped simply 77 seconds into the combat. The Brazilian heavyweight returns to motion at UFC Nashville, taking over Kennedy Nzechukwu this Saturday night time, and revealed he appears as much as veteran Rousimar Palhares when he goes for finishes of that nature.
“‘Toquinho’ caught everybody with that transfer,” Walker advised MMA Preventing. “I watched his highlights since I used to be 14, 15 years outdated. I’m such an enormous fan of his. I by no means anticipated to be recognized for this transfer, by no means anticipated to be in comparison with him. I’m his fan. He’s an idol to me. That’s one thing I did lots within the health club however by no means had the boldness to do in a combat.”
Palhares, a UFC veteran and former World Sequence of Preventing welterweight champion, scored submissions in 16 of his 19 MMA wins, together with 10 heel hooks. He turned a controversial determine within the MMA spare for allegedly holding submissions too lengthy, which led to his launch from the UFC and WSOF.
“I don’t assume anybody does it higher than me, particularly at heavyweight,” Walker mentioned. “When folks get too afraid of one thing, that’s what finally ends up occurring. [Nzechukwu] is certainly coaching that. I believe that may open extra holes for me to throw a hand or strive one thing else. I imagine he shall be so frightened concerning the takedowns and on the bottom that he’ll find yourself making a mistake, and that may give me a possibility.”
Walker mentioned it’s exhausting to coach that transfer within the health club as a result of one second extra might lead to severe harm, and for that cause he has modified the way in which he practices the assault.
“I harm a buddy within the health club as a result of he tried to defend it and stopped rolling,” Walker mentioned. “He rolled, I rolled, after which I believed he was going to roll once more however he didn’t. That transfer may be very harmful. Once I do it within the health club and my mates defend it, that’s as a result of I didn’t apply drive. I finished utilizing drive within the health club after I harm this buddy of mine.”
Walker has turned a fan favourite within the Brazilian MMA area for his humorous posts on social media, and mentioned that some members of his workforce — even his spouse — tried to persuade him to create a scary persona as an alternative.
“I needed to behave like this imply man that may harm you, that places fears in others, however I’m not that man,” Walker mentioned. “My spouse and my coach need me to cease joking round and act so folks could be afraid of me, that I can go there and break all people’s foot, nevertheless it’s not who I’m. I can’t try this shit.
“In Australia, [Tafa] talked a bunch of crap about me and I felt I might break his foot, however there’s one thing within me, ? I really feel unhealthy. He screamed and I let it go. The subsequent one [Mayes] solely tapped as soon as. You must faucet thrice. He tapped as soon as and I might go and break his foot, however I really feel unhealthy. It’s such a severe harm for those who try this, ? Life is a boomerang. You do one thing unhealthy to somebody, you pay the worth down the road. I imagine in God, however I imagine hell is on Earth too. You’ll pay the worth right here earlier than you die.”
