Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker will both leave Abu Dhabi disappointed after their fight ended in a bizarre no contest at UFC 294.
The end came after Ankalaev secured a takedown and threw a knee that blasted Walker in the head while he was still grounded. The referee immediately paused the action to allow Walker time to recover.
The ringside physician came into examine Walker and began asking him questions including his location, which Walker didn’t immediately answer. The referee then asked the doctor if Walker could continue.
“He’s not good to continue,” the doctor said to the referee.
A second later, the referee waved off the fight with Walker stomping around the octagon without realizing that his night was already done. Security rushed into the octagon to keep the fighters separated as a powder keg nearly exploded with Ankalaev and Walker champing at the bit to get to each other.
It took UFC CEO Dana White getting into the cage to calm down the hot tempered fighters.
Eventually when order was restored, the fight was declared a no contest due to an unintentional knee strike with the end coming at just 3:13 in the opening round.
It was a strange ending to what started as an exciting contest with Ankalaev and Walker ready to go to war. Unfortunately the illegal knee from Ankalaev paused the action with Walker then declared unable to continue.
White promised to sort things out but more than anything he just needed to get the fighters out of the octagon before something disastrous potentially happened. It remains to be seen what actions the UFC will take following a lackluster end to what started as a marquee fight in the light heavyweight division.