Preview: UFC 321 Prelims

Heavyweights

Valter Walker (14-1, 3-1 UFC) vs. Louie Sutherland (10-3, 0-0 UFC)

BETTING ODDS: Walker (-310), Sutherland (+250)

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After these two heavyweights saw their previous fights fall through, they wound up getting paired for a solid late-notice booking. Walker came to the UFC with a style that was a clear contrast from his wildman sibling—he’s the half-brother of Johnny Walker—as he takes a grinding and controlling approach that slowly overwhelms his opponents over multiple rounds. It figured to at least make Walker a decent gatekeeper, but it instead failed right off the bat, as he managed to outwrestle Lukasz Brzeski in his UFC debut but put together so little offense that he still lost the decision. Since that fight, things have taken a completely unexpected turn, as Walker has now suddenly reinvented himself as a heel hook specialist, scoring three straight submission wins via that maneuver in what might be more of an indictment of the grappling skill at heavyweight than anything else. Walker looked to make it four in a row against Mohammed Usman in Rio de Janeiro on Oct. 11, but their fight was scrapped on late notice. He instead takes a Scottish newcomer in Sutherland. The 31-year-old Sutherland’s UFC debut was scrapped from the September show in Australia, where he would have had a decent chance of getting past Justin Tafa. The Scotsman has the requisite heavyweight size, and he has shown an effective combination of clinchwork and wrestling to go with a slow-paced but powerful striking game. The UFC has taken much worse fliers in its quest to seemingly replenish the heavyweight ranks, but Sutherland has also seen his success stall out when he has made the jump to major promotions or faced better competition. It feels like Walker’s one trick has to stop working at some point, but there’s no real reason to believe that happens here. The pick is Walker via first-round submission.


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