{"id":37835,"date":"2026-04-20T16:03:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T16:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Coach-takes-blame-for-Johnny-Walkers-lackluster-performance-at-UFC-327-200895"},"modified":"2026-04-20T16:03:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T16:03:27","slug":"coach-takes-blame-for-johnny-walkers-lackluster-performance-at-ufc-327","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/coach-takes-blame-for-johnny-walkers-lackluster-performance-at-ufc-327\/","title":{"rendered":"Coach takes blame for Johnny Walker\u2019s lackluster performance at UFC 327"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Johnny
\nWalker<\/a>\u2019s coach, Eric Nicksick, isn\u2019t one to shy away from
\naccountability. <\/p>\n

Walker took on fellow veteran Dominick
\nReyes<\/a> at UFC 327<\/a>
\nearlier this month. Contrary to expectations, the bout was largely
\nmarked with inactivity, leading to boos at the Kaseya Center in
\nMiami. Reyes eventually earned a lackluster split-decision win over
\nWalker, with very little to score in the whole fight. <\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Nicksick takes responsibility for Walker\u2019s underwhelming
\nperformance. Nicksick believes the onus falls on him to communicate
\nhis expectations to his fighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohnny did a great job,\u201d the
\nXtreme Couture<\/a> coach told MMAjunkie.com<\/a>. \u201cWe had great preparation. And if there
\nis disconnect between what I wanted for the game plan and his
\nexecution, that falls on me as the coach. I\u2019ve got to get him in a
\nposition to be firing on all cylinders, seeing the reads that I\u2019m
\nseeing, the expectations that I want from him. And at the end of
\nthe day, that falls on us as staff. We have to have him prepared
\nmentally and physically to be in position to go out and do the
\nright things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning Experience<\/h2>\n

Nicksick further hinted that Walker was dealing with minor health
\nissues during fight week, which showed residual effects on fight
\nnight. However, Nicksick once again takes responsibility for
\naccepting the fight and putting his fighter inside the Octagon
\nwhile the latter was not at 100%. Walker is still new for Nicksick,
\nwho is taking the loss as a learning experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was some stuff that Johnny was dealing with during fight
\nweek that I knew was gonna zap his energy system all throughout the
\nweek,\u201d Nicksick said. \u201cHe got through it fine, the weight cut went
\nthrough fine. The day of the fight there were some residual effects
\nto what he was dealing with symptoms-wise. But it\u2019s us that took
\nthe fight, obviously, we weren\u2019t gonna pull out of the fight. We
\nput our athlete out there and it just wasn\u2019t the best showing in
\nthe world that we could have had. I know that the fans were upset
\nwere upset with the performance by both of the guys\u2026 It\u2019s still a
\nlearning experience for Johnny and I. That\u2019s our second fight
\ntogether.\u201d <\/p>\n

  Walker (22-10) was training with Conor
\nMcGregor<\/a>\u2019s coach, John
\nKavanagh<\/a>, in Ireland before joining Xtreme Couture in 2025. The
\nBrazilian has since scored an upset TKO win over Mingyang
\nZhang<\/a> before the uninspiring loss against Reyes. <\/p>\n