"My body felt it, like a car crash" - Johnny Walker claims doctor's stoppage in first Magomed Ankalaev fight was "probably fair"
Johnny Walker recently weighed in on the controversial stoppage to his bout against Magomed Ankalaev and noted that it was probably for the best.
The light heavyweights will clash once again as they run their fight back in the main event of UFC Vegas 84. Their first bout lasted only 3:13 as the cageside doctor forced a stoppage after determining that the Brazilian was unable to continue following an illegal knee by the Russian.
Walker was noticeably angry after realizing that the fight was being called off as he protested the referee and doctor's decision to stop the fight. During his appearance on MMA Fighting's Tropacao Franca, the No.7 ranked UFC light heavyweight mentioned that in hindsight, the correct decision was made due to the impact of the illegal knee. He said:
"It landed on my chin, of course, and I must have felt something there. We are too tough and sometimes we don't really know how much it affected us. The doctor's decision was probably fair because I couldn't move my neck after the fight, my collar bone was swollen. So if I go back into the fight, I would be in disadvantage because he landed an illegal blow and my body felt it, like a car crash." [h/t MMA Fighting]
It will be interesting to see what transpires in tonight's main event and whether Walker was able to find an area in which he can exploit in the rematch.
![Tweet regarding UFC Vegas 84 [Image courtesy: @ufc - X]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/01/35f20-17051628541453-1920.jpg?w=500)
Johnny Walker much more confident ahead of rematch against Magomed Ankalaev
Despite the no-contest, Johnny Walker is eager to get back into the octagon with Magomed Ankalaev as he is much healthier than he was for their previous encounter at UFC 294.
During the aforementioned interview, the Brazilian mentioned there will be no surprises as he is going into their fight after already having shared the octagon with the No.3 ranked light heavyweight and knows what to expect. He said:
"Last time, I had a foot injury, a torn ligament, and still fought. It's going to be a whole other fight now. I'm more confident now, I've felt what [it's] like to fight him, his strength. He's very technical and has tons of experience, but I'm much stronger than he is. I got out of one of his best positions easily, no problem, and he landed that illegal knee." [h/t MMA Fighting]