Valter Walker says he’s ready to leave his reputation as a leg lock specialist behind and return to striking.
Ahead of his UFC Abu Dhabi fight against Thomas Peterson on July 25, the heavyweight revealed that he’s grown tired of being known as the “foot hunter” and wants fans to remember him for knocking people out instead:
I am tired about this. People call me like the foot hunter.
Bro, I am tired from that. I want to punch somebody. I want to punch him on the face.
Walker even claimed he’s completely changed the way he trains, putting grappling on the back burner in favor of Muay Thai:
If you look my Instagram right now, I am not training anymore Jiu-Jitsu. I don’t train anymore this wrestling. I am training Muay Thai, bro. Muay Thai style of pad work, block, block, punch. That’s it.
He also had a message for his upcoming opponent, encouraging Peterson to keep the fight standing:
I don’t want to take your leg. Let’s just in the middle of the cage, put our chin down, and make a war. And after we take our money and go home.
That said, Walker admitted there is one exception. If Peterson chooses to wrestle, he’ll happily return to his old ways:
If he take down me, I’m going to choke his foot. And I don’t want to do that. I swear for you, I don’t want to do that. I want strike.
Walker said he’s frustrated by how much his leg lock game has defined his career:
I walk in the street, people call me foot hunter. The guy who can turn legs.
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