Javid Basharat says he will be appealing the result of his fight with Victor Henry at UFC 294. It ended in a no contest when the American was unable to continue after an accidental low blow.
Henry appeared to be in a lot of pain but got no sympathy whatsoever from the ringside doctor who told him it wasn’t a low blow. He is not the only person who believes that the American veteran was faking the injury.
Basharat has taken to Instagram to announce that he will be appealing the decision to call the fight a ‘no contest’. He is adamant that the kick which finished the fight was legal,
“I won by TKO today 100% I tried to give the benefit of the doubt but watching it over 1000 times there was no way that was low!”
View this post on Instagram
Centre stage
Seldom in the history of the UFC can a ringside doctor have featured quite so prominently. He also decided to call off the middleweight bout between Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker when the Brazilian was unable to correctly answer his impromptu quiz.
Walker was clearly desperate to continue and did not seem to have been impaired by the damage Analaev’s illegal knee had done. Afterwards Dana White was extremely critical and wondered whether the Brazilian had even understood the questions.
The doctor’s role in stopping the bantamweight bout between Basharat and Henry was less decisive. The American was clearly in no state to continue and the referee ruled it a low blow.
This bout has been called to a stop.
Victor Henry is unable to continue after an unintentional foul and the fight has been ruled a no contest #UFC294 pic.twitter.com/UWhaeyzMFu
— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2023
Vomiting and nausea
Henry was reportedly taking to hospital suffering from vomiting and nausea. He was being cornered by veteran heavyweight Josh Barnett who gave a graphic update on the Rizin veteran’s condition,
“We’re in the hospital right now to get an ultrasound and some exams. His balls are swollen to like the size of a satsuma.”
The images and video that Basharat share do appear to show his foot connecting cleanly with Henry’s upper thigh area. But any fighter will tell you that strikes to that area can cause a lot of pain if the foot ends up making any sort of contact with the cup.
We haven’t heard from Henry yet but being hospitalized with swollen testicles sounds like a lot to deal with. A rematch would make all sorts of sense but Basharat’s appeal is probably not destined to succeed.
