Walt Harris

Scouting report

Walt Harris is a 6 ft 5 in heavyweight from Birmingham, Alabama. He played college basketball at Jacksonville State, boxed as an amateur and won Golden Gloves titles in Alabama and Georgia. He fought out of SBG Alabama. His best run came in 2019, when he stopped Serghei Spivac in 50 seconds in Ottawa on May 4 and Aleksei Oleinik in 12 seconds in San Antonio on July 20. Both finishes earned Performance of the Night bonuses.

Peak ratings

Walt Harris: a former basketball player with a quick right hand

Harris lost his first three UFC fights. Jared Rosholt beat him on a decision at the TUF 18 Finale in November 2013, even though Harris dropped him in round one. Nikita Krylov stopped him with a head kick and punches 25 seconds into their January 2014 fight in Chicago. Soa Palelei finished him in Sydney in November. In between, Harris knocked out D.J. Linderman at Titan FC 28 in May 2014. He returned to the UFC at UFC 197 in April 2016 with a first-round TKO of Cody East.

Harris, one attribute at a time

Boxing. 88, his best striking score. Oleinik was knocked out by a knee and punches 12 seconds into round one. Spivac fell to punches at 0:50.

Kickboxing. 80. Chase Sherman went down to a knee and punches at 2:41 of round two in Phoenix in January 2017.

Wrestling. 74. Shamil Abdurakhimov beat him on a split decision in Portland in October 2016. Jared Rosholt had also won on the scorecards in 2013.

BJJ. 66, the weakest part of his game. Fabricio Werdum caught an armbar at 1:05 of round one at UFC 216 in October 2017. Harris took that fight after Derrick Lewis was injured.

Strength. 91, well clear of his other scores. Daniel Spitz was knocked out at 4:59 of round two in Utica in June 2018, one second before the round ended.

Durability. 80. Alistair Overeem stopped him in round two in Jacksonville in May 2020. Alexander Volkov did the same at UFC 254 in Abu Dhabi that October.

Cardio. 76. His wins tend to be short. Cody East lasted 4:18. The exception is Andrei Arlovski at UFC 232, a decision that was later changed to a no contest.

Fight IQ. 78. At UFC 217 in New York in November 2017 he was disqualified against Mark Godbeer for a head kick thrown after a timeout, 4:29 into round one.

Strength at 91 and the habit of ending it early

Strength is 91, and the results line up with it. Harris stopped East, Sherman, Asker and Spitz before the 2019 run. Then came Spivac and Oleinik back to back, each ending in under a minute. For a draft build that needs one hard finishing shot, a heavyweight who has won three fights inside two minutes is a reasonable slot to fill.

BJJ at 66, and a bad run at the end

Werdum's armbar is the clearest example of the ground gap. Harris was also stopped by Overeem, Volkov and Marcin Tybura, who finished him in round one in June 2021. Those were his last three UFC fights. The UFC removed him from its roster in March 2025. Pair him with a build that has a strong wrestling slot so he is not held on his back.

Ratings shown are my own estimates, made with AI assistance and informed by how Walt Harris is regarded by the MMA community. They are unofficial and do not constitute an assessment of Walt Harris's real-world abilities. How the ratings are made. See the disclaimer below. Ratings and write-ups by Haaris A. Last reviewed 2026-09-30; spot an error? Tell us. Read our editorial standards.