UFC 294 video: Victor Henry left writhing in pain after suffering brutal low blow, fight declared no contest  

21/10/2023 18:18

Victor Henry will have a long flight home from Abu Dhabi after he absorbed a brutal low blow that ended his fight against Javid Basharat at UFC 294.

Just after the second round started, Basharat threw an inside leg kick that swiped across Henry's groin, which sent him to the canvas writhing in pain. The audible groans from Henry only got worse as the doctor came into the cage to check him out while advising that he had five minutes to recover.

It was evident rather quickly that Henry was definitely in bad shape as he continued rolling around on the ground with the doctor advising him to sit or even stand if he would have any chance to restart the fight. The damage was obviously done with Henry clutching his groin and just rocking back and forth while attempting to recover from the low blow.

Eventually, referee Lukasz Bosacki stepped in to stop the fight with the end coming at just 15 seconds into the second round.

Basharat apologized to Henry for the inadvertent low blow, which replays showed repeatedly was just the result of bad timing as he threw the kick and Henry simultaneously ducked down.

Due to the unintentional foul, the fight was declared a no contest.

Afterwards, former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett, who served as Henry's only coach and cornerman during the fight, carried him out of the cage as he continued to deal with pain reverberating through his body after the groin strike.

It was an unfortunate ending to the contest but the correct call after Henry was undeniably compromised and unable to compete following the low blow.