UFC light heavyweight Johnny Walker opened up the UFC 279 main card with a show-stopping submission win over Ion Cutelaba, but he didn’t get to see any other fights on the night. Video surfaced of Walker, still in his fight shorts and gloves, with no shoes on, with head coach John Kavanagh outside the arena, having been kicked out. The reason? He didn’t have a ticket. To his own fight.
Walker, in good humor, revealed what happened in an interview with Helen Yee. “I didn’t have the time to dress. Like, it was so quick what happened. I was very hyped after the win, then I went to check with the doctor, I hurt my foot a little bit. And then I start doing interviews, take pictures. Then I saw the big tent outside with all the media, I went there and did a couple of interviews.
Johnny Walker Kicked Out of UFC 279 Arena With No Shirt, No Shoes, No Shower: “They said I needed tickets”
And then I was following a UFC girl, who put me in the right spots for the interviews. And I said to her ‘Okay, can I come back to the arena, my fiancée is there watching.’ And she said no. I say why and she tried to talk to somebody to see what was going on but they said I needed tickets to come back to the arena.”
Kavanagh also shared his side of the story: “It was a little bit odd how it all went down. So the last media interview, it’s in a tent outside the T-Mobile. And we come out of the tent, and go back into the building, grab our gear, and get changed. The blue shirt UFC staff – who were incredibly professional and polite, nothing against them – they had to stop us at the door and tell us ‘You’re not allowed back in.’
I just didn’t really know what was going on. We were like ‘Just walk us back to the changing room. We just want to get a quick shower, Johnny Walker is covered in another man’s sweat, so quick shower, get changed, and we will be out of your hair’. And they said no. Something to do with what happened at the press conference and I guess there was elevated levels of concern that something could happen. I guess that’s fair enough.”
At the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White attempted to address the issue, blaming COVID-19 protocols.
“I guess ever since COVID, they started this thing where they get the fighters right out of here. I don’t know why that happened or what happened. I mean we’re not throwing Johnny Walker out in the street shoeless, I’m sure.”
That’s exactly what happened. What do you think of Johnny Walker getting kicked out of UFC 279? Let us know in the comments.
