Javid Basharat to appeal UFC 294 no-contest, accuses Victor Henry of quitting; Josh Barnett responds
Javid Basharat believes he won his UFC 294 prelim bout by TKO and plans to appeal the no-contest declared after Victor Henry was unable to continue, he announced on Instagram.
“I won by TKO today 100 percent,” Basharat wrote. “I tried to give the benefit of the doubt but I know what I felt in there and watching it over 1000 times there was no way that was low!
“I made the veteran quit. I am the boogeyman of this division. I will be appealing this ASAP!”
Basharat accused Henry of faking a low blow that resulted in the no-contest, claiming his inside leg kick was legal and Henry quit. That drew a fiery response on X from Henry’s coach, former UFC heavyweight champ Josh Barnett.
The exchange began on X when Barnett wrote Henry had been transported to a local hospital after the fight and received an ultrasound on his groin.
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.
— (@JoshLBarnett) October 21, 2023
Basharat responded to Barnett and doubled down on his opinion that his kick was not a foul.
Honestly I respect you and you’re a legend of the sport but you, me and Victor Henry knew that he quit. There was no way any contact was made I remember even when I threw the kick it was clean but I gave him benefit of the doubt. after re watching it It was clearly a legal blow!
— Javid Basharat (@JavidBasharat) October 22, 2023
Honestly I respect you and you’re a legend of the sport but you, me and Victor Henry knew that he quit. There was no way any contact was made I remember even when I threw the kick it was clean but I gave him benefit of the doubt. after re watching it It was clearly a legal blow!
Basharat also posted pictures and a video of the strike that led to the no-contest. In one of the angles, his foot was mostly obscured by Henry’s left thigh, but another image appeared to show his foot hitting the upper part of the thigh.
Barnett advised Basharat to rewatch the footage and added the images weren’t the only evidence of groin contact.
Wow. Just wow.
— (@JoshLBarnett) October 22, 2023
Go rewatch it. Go listen to the sound of your foot blasting his cup. You hit it from underneath and railroaded his cup into his groin.
No way eh? Then maybe you should give his swollen testicles a nice look and then go tell the doctors who did the ultrasound how… https://t.co/zFOfqZhWUt
Wow. Just wow.
Go rewatch it. Go listen to the sound of your foot blasting his cup. You hit it from underneath and railroaded his cup into his groin.
No way eh? Then maybe you should give his swollen testicles a nice look and then go tell the doctors who did the ultrasound how wrong they are.
BTW, you low blowed him 3x in that fight. Work on your accuracy.
That touched off another exchange in which Barnett called for Basharat’s coach, Dewey Cooper, to back him up.
Now you put words in my mouth. What are you on? Victor scared? You're delusional - not only about the lowblow situation, Victor the man and the fighter, and about how well you were doing in that fight and your skills.
— (@JoshLBarnett) October 22, 2023
We already asked for the rematch so we will see who quits. https://t.co/G7LGaKM3aZ
Yo @DeweyCooper, come get your boy. He's out of his head.
— (@JoshLBarnett) October 22, 2023
Basharat’s options for appealing the contest are unclear, as UFC 294 was self-regulated by the promotion, and there is no known mechanism by which it could overturn official results.
The no-contest interrupted a three-fight UFC winning streak for Basharat, while Henry was denied a second straight win following a split-call win over Tony Gravely in his previous octagon appearance.