Valter Walker has pulled off one thing so uncommon within the UFC’s historical past that just about no fighter earlier than him managed it. In 2025, the Brazilian heavyweight grew to become the primary fighter ever to safe three consecutive heel hook submission wins in a single yr, now making it 4 in a row.
Valter Walker’s Heel Hooks
Walker‘s streak started in August 2024 in opposition to Junior Tafa at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia, the place he caught Tafa with a heel hook 4 minutes and 56 seconds into spherical one. Tafa screamed in agony moderately than faucet, forcing referee Steve Percival to cease the struggle. What adopted was pure drama, Tafa slapped Walker after the choice, mouthed off, and flipped the fowl through the official announcement. Walker returned the trash discuss in his post-fight interview, however the true assertion got here in his subsequent struggle.
In February 2025 at UFC Struggle Evening 251, Walker dispatched Don’Story Mayes with a heel hook in 77 seconds. Walker instantly shot for a takedown, introduced Mayes to the bottom, seized considered one of his legs, and the struggle was over. Mayes, now 33 years outdated, has misplaced three of his final 4 contests, however that context doesn’t diminish the pace at which Walker completed him. In accordance with reviews from the Brazilian press after the struggle, Walker was stunned by how easy the victory was, he’d anticipated Mayes to place up extra of a struggle.
Then got here July 2025 at UFC Nashville. Walker confronted Kennedy Nzechukwu on the preliminary card and blitzed him early, dropping to his again and securing the submission in simply 54 seconds. The second was historic: Walker grew to become the primary fighter in UFC historical past to file a heel hook submission win in three consecutive fights. He’d executed it quicker every time. August to Tafa took 5 minutes. February in opposition to Mayes took one minute 17 seconds. July in opposition to Nzechukwu took 54 seconds. The development is inconceivable to disregard.
Moreover, at UFC 321 in October, he submitted Louie Sutherland at simply 1:24 of spherical one by way of heel hook. This made it 4 heel hooks in a row, with three in 2025.
(@fullviolence)The importance goes past the numbers. Heel hooks are submission methods that focus on the knee, requiring particular positioning and understanding of leverage to execute correctly. Within the heavyweight division, they’ve been thought of impractical for years. Heavyweights lack the mobility and suppleness that lighter fighters possess, making leg lock submissions traditionally high-risk and sometimes ineffective. When Walker first began emphasizing heel hooks in coaching, he confronted pushback from everybody round him.
“No person actually believed I can do this as a result of at heavyweight, you don’t have an excessive amount of mobility on the bottom,” Walker defined. “After I began to try this, all people who was round me, they mentioned, ‘This don’t work for heavyweight.’”
“I informed you everybody, be careful for the foot lock, and I’ve extra,” Walker mentioned after beating Nzechukwu, addressing the heavyweight division immediately in his post-fight interview.
Three completely different opponents, thrice, similar submission, all completed in spherical one. Walker’s putting continues to develop, however his proficiency in securing takedowns and executing submissions has confirmed too troublesome to counter. The problem now dealing with the division is evident: both dedicate substantial coaching to defending in opposition to leg locks or threat changing into the following sufferer on his spotlight reel.
His brother, Johnny Walker, is a UFC mild heavyweight contender ranked twelfth in his division as of August 2025. Valter arrived within the UFC along with his debut loss to Lukasz Brzeski in April 2024, however he’s since rattled off three straight wins, every extra spectacular than the final. He’s now not the man looking for his footing, he’s change into the man everybody else wants to determine.
