The UFC’s light heavyweight division is getting some new blood on Saturday night.
After putting together a 6-0 run on the regional scene, including five first-round finishes and a 100% finish rate, New Haven, Connecticut native Julius Walker is set to make his UFC debut when the promotion heads back to Seattle for a loaded Fight Night card inside Climate Pledge Arena.
Speaking with Calf Kick Sports ahead of his promotional premiere in ‘Emerald City,’ Walker revealed that he was actually preparing for a heavyweight fight before getting the call to drop down to 205 for a clash with knockout artist Alonzo Menifield.
“Jason messaged me and was like, ‘Hey, can you make 205 next weekend?’ Knowing that I already had a fight scheduled and him saying that, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s the UFC.’ So I immediately responded and said, ‘Yep, I sure can. I’ll find a way. I don’t care.’“You know, I was supposed to be fighting at heavyweight, so I had actually been kind of trying to maintain a little bit—I was trying to stay around 235 for my heavyweight fight,” Walker revealed
Walker Shocked to find out he’s on the UFC Seattle Main Card
Adding to the excitement of his big UFC debut was the news that he would kick off the evening’s main card.
“Holy crap I’m on the main card,” Walker wrote on X after learning of the news. “Did not expect that.”
The UFC’s return to Seattle will be headlined by a high-stakes bantamweight clash between top-10-ranked contenders Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong.
Triple C’ will be looking for his first win inside the Octagon since May 2020. Cejudo walked away from the sport for three years before returning at UFC 288 and coming up short against then-bantamweight titleholder Aljamain Sterling. He followed that up with another decision loss, this time against eventual 135-pound champ Merab Dvalishvili.
For Song Yadong, a win over Cejudo would undoubtedly be the biggest victory of his MMA career thus far and get him back into the win column after falling to Petr Yan at UFC 299.
In the co-main event is a massive middleweight matchup as Brendan ‘All In’ Allen squares off with fan favorite Aaron ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez.
