Valter Walker Dismisses Steveson, Hokit Ahead of UFC Abu Dhabi

Valter Walker (15-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) is due to fight in the featured undercard bout of this Saturday's UFC Abu Dhabi. The fight against Thomas Petersen (11-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) serves as Walker's first trip to the Octagon since Oct. 25 during UFC 321, which also took place in Abu Dhabi.

That Saturday night, he scored a first-round submission by way of heel hook against Louie Sutherland (11-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC) in 84 seconds. A March 28 fight versus Marcin Tybura in Seattle was postponed due to the aftereffects of Walker sustaining a broken left leg in the Oct. 25 contest.

With a clean bill of health now afforded to him, Walker returns to the fabled Octagon for the first time in exactly nine months in the same Etihad Arena where UFC 321 took place. Throughout his recovery, Valter Walker has been keeping tabs on the heavyweight division, specifically two recent additions to the roster at 265 lbs.

Valter Walker on Josh Hokit

A little over a month ago, Josh Hokit (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) fought on the south lawn of The White House in Washington, DC for UFC Freedom 250, defeating Derrick Lewis by second-round knockout due to punches. Since securing his UFC contract on the strength of a second-round knockout by way of elbows in August of last year during the second week of Contender Series, he's won four of his five fights inside the Octagon via stoppage.

At the same time, however, Valter Walker doesn't view Hokit, a former member of the San Francisco 49ers practice squad, as a prime contender in the heavyweight ranks. He spoke of Hokit to MMA Fighting recently.

"I don't think he's a tough fight for me," Valter Walker began, translated to English. "Honestly, I don't think he's the fighter people are making him out to be. Come on, he's small."

Valter Walker Left Unimpressed After Gable Steveson's Debut

On the night of July 11, the Octagon returned to its homebase at T-Mobile Arena in Enterprise, NV for UFC 329. During the co-featured fight on the undercard that weekend, Gable Steveson (4-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC,) a former Olympic wrestler and member of The University of Minnesota wrestling team, made his promotional debut against Elisha Ellison (5-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC.)

Steveson scored a first-round knockout with elbows and punches inside T-Mobile Arena. Although the debuting heavyweight used his time at the podium backstage after the win to advocate for a spot on the UFC's Madison Square Garden event later on in the fall, Valter Walker wasn't wowed by Steveson's performance in his first UFC bout.

"People say, 'He's a monster, he's an Olympic champion,'" Walker said of Gable Steveson. "I watched Gable's debut and I wasn't all that impressed. I didn't get the hype."

Valter Walker Discusses MMA Fanbase

From there, Valter Walker backed up his comments with the rationale that viewers of the sport may not fully grasp the fight game.

"It's the same with Josh Hokit," he said. "Fight fans don't really understand fighting, you know? He beat Curtis Blaydes. I think that's the biggest win of his career. He beat him convincingly, sure, but I still don't know how how Curtis Blaydes lost to him like that."