Aljamain Sterling warns Johnny Walker's style would eventually backfire in UFC heavyweight division

Johnny Walker has lately established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the UFC heavyweight division.

His unorthodox combat style, particularly his innovative striking techniques, have helped him notch a couple of notable wins over the past few weeks. 

Nevertheless, former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has seemingly warned that Walker's high-risk style of fighting might shove him into harm's way sooner or later in the proverbial division of giants. 

Aljamain Sterling sees a possibly tough path for Johnny Walker in UFC heavyweight division

In an edition of The Weekly Scraps Podcast, Aljamain Sterling and his podcast panelists addressed various topics, including Johnny Walker's success at heavyweight.

For context, Walker primarily competed at light heavyweight in his MMA career, but he often indicated that the weight cuts were adversely affecting his health. Walker, as such, recently moved back to heavyweight and has since racked up a pair of spectacular KO/TKO wins. 

Sterling appeared to acknowledge the same but warned that Walker seems willing to absorb too much damage to land the finishing strike. "Funk Master" stated, "Johnny can't keep fighting like that... He (Johnny Walker) can't keep fighting like this." 

When lightheartedly asked whether Walker can't keep using his head as a tool of defense, meaning keep taking strikes to the head until he lands a finishing blow, Sterling replied, "Nah. That was not good until it was good. It was like, yo, bro, this is going one way. I'm a fan of both guys." 

The American combatant drew parallels between Walker and UFC bantamweight Marlon "Chito" Vera, implying that both fighters have a penchant for taking too much damage to earn an opening to land an unorthodox potential finishing strike, which may or may not finish the fight. 

Predicting that the risky fighting style would eventually backfire against Walker, especially in the heavyweight division, where the margin of error is extremely low, Sterling said, "I just think it's going to be tough. But he can always catch you, and that's what's scary about this guy." 

Watch Aljamain Sterling discuss Johnny Walker's heavyweight run and more below (*comments at the 5:20-minute mark of the video): 

Johnny Walker's swift ascent at heavyweight; Aljamain Sterling returns at UFC Qatar

Johnny Walker's maiden UFC heavyweight matchup -- having competed in MMA fights at heavyweight before, outside the UFC -- came last month. The Brazilian knocked out Mick Parkin at UFC 332. The 34-year-old followed it up with a quick turnaround, knocking out Waldo Cortes-Acosta last week.

Walker has since asserted that he's willing to serve as the backup/replacement fighter for the imminent UFC heavyweight title fight between reigning titlist Ciryl Gane and challenger Josh Hokit at UFC 334 on November 14. He hasn't been officially announced for the spot by the UFC yet. 

Meanwhile, Aljamain Sterling, who currently competes at featherweight, is on a quest to win the UFC world championship at 145 pounds. The grappling savant will clash against Kevin Vallejos at UFC Qatar on November 21.