Dana White has shared his thoughts on the controversial doctor stoppage in today’s Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker fight at UFC 294.
Johnny Walker (21-7 MMA) and Magomed Ankalaev (18-1-1 MMA) collided in a highly anticipated light heavyweight contest on the main card of today’s pay-per-view event in Abu Dhabi.
Unfortunately, the bout did not get out of the opening round. After scoring a takedown in the early moments of the fight, Magomed Ankalaev threw an illegal knee to the face of the grounded Johnny Walker which forced the referee to step in and call a stop to the action.
Johnny Walker was taken to his corner to be given a chance to recover, but after a brief conversation with the doctor, the fight was abruptly waved off an ruled a no-contest.
That decision was not well received by Johnny Walker, who proceeded to try and fight on despite a number of staff and security already being present in the Octagon.
The post-fight mele actually resulted in Dana White stepping into the cage to try and nullify the situation, a decision which appeared to work out in the end.
When asked about the doctor stoppage at this afternoon’s post-fight press conference, the UFC CEO shared the following sentiments.
“Listen, the guy’s inexperienced. He got up in there – I think there’s a lot of things that probably happened,” White said. “I guess he asked (Walker), ‘Where are you right now?’ And his response was, ‘I’m in the desert.’ He’s not wrong. I think there’s a big language barrier in there between the two of them. And he’s inexperienced. It sucks.”
Dana White continued:
“It’s one of those things that happens sometimes. We’ll make it right, and we’ll fix it.”
As for his decision to step into the Octagon during the post-fight mele, White shared the following remarks:
“That didn’t look like it was going in the right direction… That’s all we needed.”
Here’s what fighters had to say about the no-contest in Johnny Walker vs. Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 294.
What did you think of the doctor’s decision to call off today’s Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker fight?