UFC Charlotte results: Johnny Walker punishes Anthony Smith with leg kicks leading to unanimous decision win

Johnny Walker continued his winning ways with punishing performance over Anthony Smith in the UFC Charlotte co-main event.

Over three rounds, Walker punished Smith’s lead leg with a devastating series of calf kicks that were really doing damage with each shot landed. Walker scored a knockdown and then picked his moments to explode forward with jumping knees and head kicks but he just wasn’t quite able to put Smith away before final horn.

It was still more than enough for Walker to earn the victory with the judges scoring the contest 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in his favor to mark his third win in a row overall.

“I want to prove myself,” Walker said afterwards. “I don’t want to finish him quickly. Because if I beat him too quickly, there’s no joy.”

Walker was sitting down hard on those calf-kicks that were really digging into Smith’s legs with one-time light heavyweight title challenger coming back at him with some seriously heavy hands. Smith was carrying a sledgehammer with his right hand but Walker was stepping into the exchanges and winging punches right alongside him.

With Smith in pursuit, Walker caught him with a stiff punch that appeared to rattle the 53-fight veteran momentarily but that led to a takedown against the cage. Walker defended well on the ground until actually earning a reversal before the first round came to a close.

Walker continued to target that lead leg throughout the fight but Smith was looking to counter by throwing his overhand right, which was starting to find a home on the Brazilian’s chin.

It was more of the same with time winding down in the final round with Walker satisfied with those repeated kicks that were definitely affecting Smith’s movement on the feet. When Smith fired back, usually with that same right hand, Walker was doing an effective job to roll with the punch with most of the impact landing on his shoulder rather than his head.

The continued damage to the leg eventually opened up a spot where Walker connected with a stiff punch that dropped Smith down to the mat. Walker followed him to the floor briefly but a stalemate on the ground led to him standing back up again

While Smith was clearly compromised, Walker was still cautious to prevent a mistake in the closing moments of what was ultimately a largely one-sided unanimous decision win. Afterwards, Walker actually jumped out of the cage so he could shake hands with former opponent and UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill, who was seated nearby watching the fights.

“He’s the champ,” Walker said while paying respect to Hill. “Then, I said goodbye, bro, I’ll see you at the top, I’m coming.”