Story Behind Johnny Walker’s Real Name: Why Did the UFC Light Heavyweight Change His Name?

From dancing in every instance he gets to having wild victory celebrations, light heavyweight contender Johnny Walker never ceases to entertain. He’s almost always all over the internet and fans have gotten to know him quite well. However, there is still one thing that fans don’t know about, and that’s the story behind Walker’s name, which is what we’re going to talk about today as he returns to action at UFC’s Saudi event on 22nd June against Volkan Oezdemir.

Johnny Walker, besides being the name of the UFC lightweight fighter, is also one of the most recognized whisky brands in the world – Johnnie Walker. This begs the question of why would he use that name, given that trademark issues could pop up. Well, Walker narrated the full story behind his nickname back in 2019.

Johnny Walker explains the story and meaning behind his name

For starters, Johnny Walker is not the real name of the light heavyweight fighter. His real name is Walker Johnny Barra de Souza. This explains why he’d take up the name Johnny Walker because it’s there in his name, and he spoke about it while an interview with MMA Junkie, claiming that it was his friends’ idea of calling him by that name because his father loved to drink.

“My nickname is Johnny Walker. People like to call me that because my name sounds like Johnnie Walker whiskey. They figure my father was a big drinker,” the UFC fighter stated. However, the real reason for his nickname is a whole different story. In actuality, his name is just a mixture of his parents’ names, Joelma and Walter.

“In reality, it’s a combination of my parents’ names. My mother’s name is Joelma and my father’s name is Walter. My given name is Walker Johnny. And when I got into fighting, since I needed a nickname, I ended up being called Johnny Walker,” the Brazilian star added. But what about his ethnicity? Well, Walker opened up to that in another interview as well.

DNA test reveals Walker’s ethnicity

Johnny Walker appears to be a pretty curious individual and his curiosity led him to take a DNA test known as ’23 and Me’. Many celebrities, especially social media influencers, have tried their hands at this test and when the light heavyweight star did it, he found out that he has his roots in the continent of Europe. But that wasn’t it. Walker’s DNA also showed that he was also a bit of African, indigenous American and he also had a little bit of Asian in him.

“I’m 3.3 percent Nigerian…and also Angola and Congolese… I’m also Spanish… and of course, Italian… I have a lot of Italian [in me],” stated Johnny Walker in a video he posted on X. “Little percentage of native American… Now you can see, I’m 22 percent African and 72 percent European… and a few other options [ethnicities] as well.” 

Johnny Walker is coming off a loss to fight Volkan Oezdemir as we wait to see if he can get back to his winning ways once more. What are your predictions for the fight and what do you have to say about his nickname? Drop your comments below.