Johnny Walker no longer faces Bogdan Guskov at UFC 311 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on January 18. The Brazilian light heavyweight announced that he had suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against the Uzbekistani mixed martial artist.
“Bad news, I’ve been pulled out by bad injury from next week’s UFC 311. So I’m not gonna be competing,” Walker said in a video posted on social media. “I’m devastated. A lot of hard work I put in a few months, trained a lot. I really want to come back and do the show for you, but not this time.”
“I wish Bogdan good luck. Hopefully he can find an opponent, because he probably put a lot of hard work as well, so hopefully he can find a replacement very soon.”
Walker did not disclose the nature of injury, but said he was going to be back stronger and as quick as possible.
Last year, Johnny Walker (21-9, 1 NC) suffered a pair of defeats by knockout against Volkan Oezdemir and Magomed Ankalaev. Bogdan Guskov (16-3) won two fights by way of stoppage over Ryan Spann and Zac Pauga.
With a week away from the event, it is to be determined whether a replacement opponent for Guskov will be found.
The main event at UFC 311 is a rematch between current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and Armenian contender Arman Tsarukyan. The co-main event pits Georgia’s bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili against challenger Umar Nurmagomedov.