Dana White weighs in on questionable UFC 294 doctor stoppage after illegal knee to Johnny Walker

Dana White, the CEO of UFC, criticized the “inexperienced” cageside doctor at UFC 294, blaming the doctor’s questionable decision-making on their lack of experience. The incident occurred during the featured bout between Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker when Ankalaev delivered an illegal knee to Walker’s face.

The referee, Dan Movahedi, called timeout and brought in the cageside doctor, whose identity remains unknown, to examine Walker. The interaction between Walker and the doctor was not captured on the broadcast, but according to UFC reporter Megan Olivi, Walker’s coach relayed that the doctor asked Walker what country he was in. Walker responded with “the desert.”

However, the doctor apparently deemed Walker’s answer insufficient and, before the allotted five minutes for recovery had expired, stopped the fight and declared it a no contest based on the doctor’s advice. Walker immediately protested the decision.

White surprisingly expressed understanding of the situation, acknowledging the language barrier between Walker and the doctor and recognizing the doctor’s inexperience. He assured that the UFC would rectify the situation.

During the incident, Walker became unruly and had to be restrained from Ankalaev, prompting White to intervene to prevent further escalation.

White did not provide specifics on how the UFC would resolve the issue.

Earlier at UFC 294, the cageside doctor was involved in another bizarre scene when Victor Henry suffered a hard groin kick from Javid Basharat. The doctor assured Henry that the kick did not directly hit his groin, to which Henry responded that it was indeed a hit to his “d*ck and balls.” Henry was unable to continue fighting and was later taken to the hospital, where he vomited due to the severity of the kick.

For more details on the event, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 294.

Source: MMA Junkie