UFC heavyweight shatters dry spell with record-setting finish

Valter Walker snaps heavyweight drought with third-straight heel hook finish at UFC Nashville

Coming up against Kennedy Nzechukwu on the Nashville prelims, Walker was a small underdog. The Brazilian titan lost his UFC debut embarrassingly against Lukasz Brzeski, but managed to rebound with back-to-back heel hooks, becoming the first heavyweight to score two heel hooks in the UFC.

Interestingly, two of these heel hooks came against Don'Tale Mayes.

After blitzing Nzechukwu to the cage, Walker dropped for a leg and managed to secure another heel hook finish. Nzechukwu's face contorted with pain as his leg was twisted beyond its normal limits, and he tapped almost immediately.

Walker becomes the first heavyweight to score back-to-back-to-back heel hook finishes, and he ties for second place with heel hooks in the UFC, behind Rousimar Palhares (4).

Walker is undoubtedly one or two more wins away from becoming a legitimate heavyweight contender. The division is so shallow with talent that any prolific finisher could challenge for the belt in just a few wins. Notably, the UFC Nashville main event sees 1-0 UFC fighter Tallison Teixeira compete for a heavyweight ranking against Derrick Lewis.

With any hope, talent is being injected into the division that can rival the champion, Tom Aspinall.

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