Now that 2020 is finally behind us, we can start looking forward to 2021 and all the great fights that are being set up for the first quarter of the year.
Adding to that list is Australian light heavyweight prospect Jimmy Crute vs. wildstyle practitioner Johnny Walker. According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, the two will face off on March 27th at a UFC Fight Night in a location to be determined.
Per sources, Jimmy Crute (@CruteJim) vs. Johnny Walker (@JohnnyWalker) agreed to for March 27. Sick matchup between some of the new blood at 205 … really like this one. pic.twitter.com/nGu7kf2YJ5
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) January 2, 2021
Crute is 12-1 (4-1 UFC) with all his UFC wins coming via knockout or submission. He went a perfect 2-0 in 2020 and was included in the UFC’s Best of 2020 Recap show as one of the promotion’s Rising Stars of the Year (for fighters under 25 years old). With Robert Whittaker getting up there in age, we expect the UFC is going to spend the year pushing Crute as the next great Australian hope and we’re here for it 100%.
CLOCKED CLEANED ?
@CruteJim with a STATEMENT on Fight Island.
[ Co-main next on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/oYx2sffumR
— UFC (@ufc) October 18, 2020
Crute really cranked that @CruteJim #UFCAuckland pic.twitter.com/xtGjgSYcRL
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 23, 2020
Two years ago, Johnny Walker was in a similar position to where Crute is now: young, exciting, lots of potential, a bunch of good wins. But back to back losses in 2019 and 2020 plus a continued tendency to put his face in the way of opponent’s strikes have a lot of people wondering whether he has the discipline and tactical intelligence to stay in the UFC top 10 rankings for long.
Having @UfcPereira and @JohnnyWalker in the gym together looks like a lot of fun
(via richard.santos.boxe/Instagram) pic.twitter.com/gsZKG5Izbh
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 30, 2020
He did pull off a decent knockout over Ryan Spann in his last fight, though.
After landing several punches while pressed up against the cage, @JohnnyWalker hit a final elbow that put Ryan Spann out #UFCVegas11 pic.twitter.com/oc2jf0Y0BS
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 20, 2020
This one has #12 Crute looking to trade spaces with #9 Walker and is pretty much guaranteed to be entertaining.