Junior Tafa slapped Valter Walker’s face after a verbal submission loss back in August 2024, and the Brazilian said he had to flee the country for being at risk of being mobbed outside the host hotel in Perth, Australia.

Walker, who returns to action against Don’Tale Mayes this Saturday at UFC Vegas 102, told MMA Fighting the promotion changed his hotel and flight tickets before he even left the arena after being informed that allegedly dozens of people were waiting for him back at the UFC host hotel.

Referee Steve Perceval awarded the Brazilian heavyweight a verbal submission victory when Tafa screamed out in pain as Walker attacked with a heel hook in the final seconds of the opening round. Tafa felt wronged, and slapped the Brazilian before security intervened.

“People asked me why I didn’t react,” Walker told MMA Fighting. “In my mind I was like, f*ck, I already won. If I react here, in his home country, and there’s a brawl here… He has more than 40 people with him. They’ll jump in and I’ll have to fight all of them. [The commission] might overturn this to a no-contest and even fine me. I’ll stay cool. He already slapped me, cool. Just give me the win and let me go.”

Watch the scene below.

Walker planned on staying in Australia for another day to “buy clothes in Australia because we don’t have Adidas and stuff like that here in Russia,” but said the UFC changed his plans.

“When I was about to leave the arena, the UFC stopped me and said there were like 40 people waiting for me outside the hotel. I couldn’t go back to the hotel. They moved me to another hotel to get some rest and then bought me a new ticket and I left that same day. I wanted to stay for another day, but had to leave Australia because they were waiting for me outside the hotel. It’s just a sport, man. I went there to fight and they’re being unfair.”

In the end, Walker secured his first win under the UFC banner and felt it got him “more hype” among fans, so he jokes “the slap was worth it.” Walter is now back to the winning column and now 12-1 as a professional fighter, rebounding from a decision loss to Lukasz Brzeski in his promotional debut.

“Mentally speaking, I think my last fight was my toughest ever because I was an underdog, I was coming off a loss, and I was being heavily criticized,” Walker said. “I was fighting [in Tafa’s] country, being booed and cursed at by 20,000 people. I was like, brother, it’s kill or get killed. I knew I would lose if we went to a decision. My coach said I would get cut if I lost, so I went there to kill or get killed.

“My coach told me to get him down and submit, but he closed his guard and I couldn’t get out of there. I wanted to take his back and go for the rear-naked choke, but, like, I’m already screwed here, coming off a loss, let’s go for the foot. I’ll wait for the final seconds and attack. If I end up on the bottom, the round will be over. If I catch it, I’ll break his foot. If we go to the second round, he’ll have a busted knee or a broken foot. I went to break it. He didn’t even tap, he screamed. I wanted really to hurt him.”