Top light-heavyweight contenders Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker faced off in the featured bout of UFC 294’s PPV card.
Ankalaev looked to rebound from an unsuccessful shot at the vacant title, as he drew with Jan Blachowicz in 2022, and get back to championship fighting. Meanwhile, Johnny Walker has somewhat reinvented himself from the crazy man he was when he entered the UFC; he now resembles a more technical fighter but still maintains insane athleticism and power. He brought a four-fight winning streak into the fight. In the end neither man won the fight, it ended in a no-contest in controversial fashion.
Ankalaev came out in his usual southpaw stance against the orthodox Walker, who opened with a leg kick, a smart move after Jan Blachowicz did so much damage to Magomed with leg kicks in his last fight. Ankalaev’s sharp striking let him land well thereafter as the pair fought in a fairly neutral positioning. Ankalaev landed a big knee that doubled Walker over two minutes into the round, but Johnny was playing opossum as Ankalaev came forward and launched into a flying knee. Ankalaev responded with a takedown into a dominant position against the fence. He was unable to do much until he landed a knee as Walker was standing up, however it hit the head and one of Johnny’s knees was down, making it an illegal strike. It seemed that Walker was able to fight just fine but the doctor appeared to say no, and told Dan Movahedi to stop the fight. Movahedi stopped the fight but Walker did not realize at first, and even after he was told he tried to continue fighting with Ankalaev. Ankalaev was more than happy to oblige but security got in there and held them back. Dana White even got involved, stepping into the cage to calm down Walker.
It was a disappointing end to what could have been a great fight, and no one seemed to come out of that situation happy. The doctor will surely face criticism for a while over stopping the fight so quickly when Johnny Walker appeared so ready to still fight. Presumably they will rematch soon.
Official Result: Johnny Walker vs. Magomed Ankalaev ends in No Contest (illegal knee) Round 1, 3:13
