Following a truly bizarre stoppage, UFC featherweight Jack Shore has condemned the ‘inexperienced’ officials who called off his UFC 301 fight in Brazil.
Controversy erupted in Rio de Janeiro last weekend when the cageside doctor called off the fight between Jack ‘Tank’ Shore and Joanderson Brito after a horrific-looking cut opened up on the shin of the Welsh superstar.
The injury was far worse than it originally appeared and the cut only needed a few stitches; yet in the aftermath of the incredibly bizarre stoppage, the typically mild-mannered UFC featherweight has rightly launched a verbal tirade against both the UFC 301 doctor and referee.
Jack Shore slams ‘inexperienced’ officials in frustrated breakdown
Shore recently appeared on the Sky Sports MMA Club podcast and took no prisoners as he slammed both the doctor and referee for being ‘inexperienced’, even suggesting that it seemed as if the officials wanted him to lose.
“He’s obviously an inexperienced doctor like he shouldn’t be a ringside physician if he has got no experience in combat sports or familiarity with combat sports,” explained the fan-favorite Welshman, before reiterating that “If he’s just your everyday doctor, he shouldn’t be cageside for an MMA fight.”
“I’m not a football player or a rugby player with a big gash in my shin, I’m an MMA fighter and a guy who’s grown up fighting… I know what I signed up for, I signed up to go out [on my shield].”
“I’d rather get sparked clean out than told ‘You can’t continue because of a cut on your shin’.”
Shore stated that the entire fiasco in Brazil comes down to having two inexperienced officials in charge of the action before suggesting that the cut might have been influenced by the ankle supports worn by Brito:
“When I watched the fight back, the kick that caused the cut was a perfect check – I checked it perfect, but he obviously had ankle supports on, so I don’t know if that caused a bit of friction with the material but I’m not sure.”
Back to the doctor, who certainly received the brunt of the criticism from both Shore and the wider MMA community following his waving off of the fight; and whilst ‘Tank’ doesn’t want to wear a tinfoil hat, argued that the physician should know better when it comes to such injuries:
“He rams his finger into the cut; now for anyone who’s ever had a cut, if someone sticks their finger in, it’s nigh on impossible to not have some sort of reaction to that.”
“I don’t want to make it sound like a big conspiracy or whatever, but it was almost as if he wanted me to react by chucking his finger in.”
‘Tank’ doubts he’ll be able to return for UFC Manchester
Speaking via his official YouTube channel, Shore offered an early insight into what the next few months will look like and frustratingly, it appears that a return on the UFC 304 card in Manchester is off the table.
“I’ve got a 30-day suspension anyway because of the stitches, the doctor told me that’s probably best not to spar for the next four weeks, [so] Manchester’s not going to happen.”
The 17-2 featherweight then detailed how he wants to return in the fall, after spending some much-needed recovery time enjoying the British sunshine:
“I’m probably looking at September or October now… I want to get another fight in this year but I’m not in a rush to rush back, I want to spend some time with the family [and] enjoy summer a little bit, but October would be ideal.”
When asked whether he believes the UFC will push for a rematch, ‘Tank’ had a simple response: “They’re not going to run it back because if they run it back, they acknowledge that the doctor f**** up.”
“They’re probably going to push Brito on to a ranked fight which he deserves, but it is what it is.”