Mingyang Zhang vs. Johnny Walker squared off in a Light Heavyweight contest earlier tonight (Sat. Aug. 23, 2025) live on ESPN+ inside Shanghai Indoor Stadium in Shanghai, China. In a wild fight, Walker secured the knockout win.
Walker opened the match up with an immediate takedown attempt and was promptly reversed! Zhang landed in the guard and started chopping away with elbows. Walker was let up to his feet without eating too many shots, however. Zhang pressed hard and landed a right hand, prompting
Walker to go for another takedown along the fence. He secured the body lock but couldn’t drag him down. Both men landed in a wild exchange, then Walker got back on his bike. He tried another running double leg and ate a hard elbow for his efforts.
Against all odds, the fight made it to round two with nary a knockdown.
Walker dug some low kicks to start the second. Zhang returned the favor. A right hand over the top sent Walker stumbling backwards. Out of nowhere, a Walker low kick badly hurt Mingyang! He fell to the floor in pain! Walker took top position and started raining down punches and hammer fists, trying to force a finish. Zhang survived and had a chance to stand, but he didn’t take it — clearly, the leg was gone. A few seconds later, he secured the finish officially with a last barrage of strikes.
This was a classically weird Johnny Walker fight. He was getting beaten up for much of the fight, but a few hard low kicks turned off the lead leg of Mingyang Zhang. With a hurt opponent in front of him, Walker did great work in securing the comeback win with a nonstop onslaught of ground strikes. It didn’t work out exactly, but it was also good to see Walker mix up his offense with the wrestling.
Result: Walker defeats Zhang via second-round knockout
For complete UFC Shanghai results and play-by-play, click here.
