UFC 279’s Johnny Walker claims CBD “drugged him every day” for three years.

Many athletes are turning to CBD as a form of therapy. Several findings over the years underscore its powerful potential, and in the case of a professional fighter, for recovery and pain management.

That wasn’t the case with UFC light heavyweight Johnny Walker. Guest in a pre-UFC 279 MMA fights‘s Portuguese podcast Trocacao Franca, The 30-year veteran revealed some mental health issues he had gone through which he believed were caused by his CBD use.

“I had no idea and only found out about four or five months ago that CBD contains a small amount of THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), a small percentage, and I’m extremely allergic to THC,” he said.

“It gives me schizophrenia, panic attacks. I’ve been drugged every day for the last three years and didn’t know it. It’s not strong, it’s a small percentage, but my brain is very sensitive to these substances and I didn’t know it.”

Walker began using cannabidiol in oil form after being approached by companies offering sponsorship deals. When Walker took “ten doses” as a form of pain management from an ankle injury after his fight with fellow Brazilian Thiago Santos in 2021, he divulged the “tough episode” he went through while on vacation with his fiancée in Thailand.

“I went to Thailand and the first week there I had an episode. That [CBD I used] had higher THC levels,” he recalled. “It’s not a huge amount, but it’s high enough for my brain. It took me 10 days to come back [to normal], Brothers. I was confused for 10 days. My fiancee had to take care of me like a baby. I wouldn’t let her go, I didn’t trust anyone.

“She gave me diazepam to sleep on but I spat it out, I didn’t trust her. She put diazepam in a pudding and I ate two of them. I slept for half an hour and woke up and she had gone for a massage and I followed her.

“I took a van, a taxi, I followed her. Brother, I made her life difficult. I woke up in the middle of the night, saw things, woke up and started packing my bags, said I wanted to go home, that I couldn’t stay there any longer. It was a tough episode bro and I knew it wasn’t normal.”

Walker had since eliminated CBD from his life, a decision he says changed his life.

“When I stopped using [CBD] I became more confident and trusted people, could focus on a goal and hit the gym early. My life is 100 percent better now, brother.

“I’ve been drugging myself for the last three years and I didn’t even know it. I’m just healthier now, my head is in the right place, I can plan and everything works out.

“I was arguing with my fiancé all the time and I was like a bunch of crap. I wasn’t acting like the real me, you know? It affected me a lot and I had no idea what it was.

“The more anxious I got, the more CBD I took, thinking ‘this shit is going to help me calm down’ and numbed me more with the venom. I do not say [CBD] it’s like that for everyone, it’s good for anxiety, but not for me, who has hyperactivity (ADHD). THC wasn’t good [for me] and I didn’t know.”

Walker (18-7) will be looking to break a two-fight slide when he takes on Ion Cutelaba to open the main map of UFC279 This weekend in Las Vegas.