With his brother Valter Walker in the corner in Shanghai, Johnny admitted he was “emotional” after his first three-fight winless run in the promotion. Training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas gave him confidence, but Walker felt he couldn’t perform at his best after a 14-month layoff.

The light heavyweight bout was scheduled for five rounds, but they all were not needed. Walker (21-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) finished Zhang (19-6 MMA, 3-0 UFC) with a violent and diversified beatdown barrage for the stoppage at 2:37 of Round 2.

Johnny Walker ended a skid of two straight knockout losses by scoring a shocking knockout of his own in a comeback win against Chinese light heavyweight Zhang Mingyang in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Shanghai.