Anthony Smith predicts second-round submission over Johnny Walker at UFC Charlotte: “In the scramble, I think he’ll give up something easy”

Anthony Smith is set to face Johnny Walker this Saturday in the UFC Charlotte co-headliner, and the light heavyweight standout predicts a second-round submission victory coming his way.

The Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, will host 12 thrilling mixed martial arts contests. Heavyweight contenders Jailton Almeida and Jairzinho Rozenstruik top the bill, with Smith and Walker taking the co-main event slot.

The main card is scheduled to start earlier than normal at 3 p.m ET and airs on ABC, as well as on ESPN +. The prelims will be shown on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+ at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Smith is making his first walk to the octagon since breaking his leg during his fight with Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 277 last July. Prior to that, the former 205lbs title challenger was riding a notable wave of momentum as he tried to climb back to title contention with stoppage victories over Devin Clark, Jimmy Crute, and Ryan Spann.

As for Walker, the rough patch of inconsistent performances is long behind him. After back-to-back defeats to Thiago Santos and current light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill, the Brazilian native has turned it around with two back-to-back first-round stoppages of his own over Ion Cutelaba and Paul Craig.

Anthony Smith predicts second-round submission over Johnny Walker

The light heavyweight clash was originally set to headline UFC Charlotte. However, the promotion lowered it to the penultimate bout of the evening, which Smith gladly obliged due to only having to fight for three rounds instead of five.

During a recent episode of Smith’s and Michael Bisping’s podcast, Believe You Me, “The Count”, asked his co-host how he predicts he’ll win the fight.

“A second round-submission”, Smith said confidently to the former middleweight champion. “I think I’ll clip him with something, and in the scramble, I think he’ll give up something easy.”

Despite Walker being the one who is riding high on confidence, Smith feels his opponent may be apprehensive about engaging from the get-go. When asked how he anticipates the opening exchanges and the first-round unfolding, Smith sees the fight going one of two ways.

“I think he’s going to be a little bit nervous; it’s going to go one of two ways. He’s either going to be really, really shelled up and very tentative like he was with Thiago Santos, or he’s going to have that nervous energy where he just gets really, really, really nervous and then explodes into something crazy. So it’s going to be either the most boring first round or the most insane first round. I would guess it’s going to be very boring, and he’s going to be very tentative.”

With both men keen to prove a point to keep their dream of becoming a UFC champion alive, there’s a lot on the line at UFC Charlotte this Saturday.

What do you think of the official fight prediction from Anthony Smith? Let us know in the comments!