‘I’m a UFC star – I was robbed of my last fight by doctor who rammed his finger into my cut'

WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT: Jack Shore lost his last fight in the UFC in incredibly controversial fashion when a doctor decided to ram his finger into an open wound in the Welshman's leg

UFC star Jack Shore felt robbed when a doctor called time on his last bout due to a peculiar injury.

The 29-year-old last faced Joanderson Brito at UFC 301 back in May with hopes of breaking into the featherweight rankings via a win over a top contender. But instead of having his hand raised in the bout at the Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, the Welshman - who makes his return on Saturday (November 2) night - walked away with the second loss of his career in remarkable fashion.

Fans of mixed martial arts will know that the sport has witnessed some truly stomach-churning injuries over the years. Anderson Silva famously snapped his leg in half trying to kick the calves of Chris Weidman at UFC 168 in December 2013, while Cyborg Santos suffered a fractured skull when Michael Venom Page hit him with a flying knee at Bellator 158 in July 2016.

And while it's not unusual for referees to wave off bouts for the safety of fighters when they sustain a nasty cut which won't stop bleeding - especially ones on the face or encroaching on a combatant's eye - Shore's stoppage earlier this year left many fans curious as to what the doctors and referees of Brazil were thinking.

Neither Brito nor Shore looked to be too damaged going into the second round of their bout at featherweight. The former had been chopping away at the latter's lead leg with brutal calf kicks for the majority of the fight, but he'd utilised his striking and wrestling well to bring his own edge to the bout.

With around three minutes left in the second, Brito swung another powerful kick towards Shore's left leg - but 'Tank' was wise to it, checking it just under his knee to damage his opponent more than the kick hurt him. And while any good kickboxing coach will tell you that Shore blocked the kick in the perfect position, it unfortunately opened up a small cut on his leg.

Blood started trickling from the wound and dripping onto the canvas before a concerned Joao Claudio Soares called time for the ringside physician to investigate his leg and make sure it wasn't anything too serious. Speaking about the incident in a chat with Mirror Fighting this week, Shore explained: "Just to put it into perspective, and don’t get me wrong, it was a cut - of course it was.

"But when we were in the fight, I've seen the blood and he had me on the cage trying to take me down, so I thought it was him bleeding. I thought I’d perhaps caught him on the way in. My leg was a little bit sore from the kicks but I’ve had sore legs in fights from leg kicks, and [then] the ref stopped it.

"We kind of go to the neutral corner, and he’s like ‘I need to call a doctor in’ and my corner are shouting ‘You alright?’ and I’m like ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll be alright now’. Doctor comes in and I’m like ‘I’m all good, it’s a cut on the leg. It’s all good’. And then he f***ing gets on his hands and knees and starts ramming his finger in the cut.

"So obviously I couldn’t feel it at the time and when someone’s pushing their finger in an open wound, you are going to flinch a little bit. So I’m like ‘Woah, chill out’. And I can see him waving to the ref like shaking his head, and I’m like ‘No, no, no, no - I’m alright’."

Shore also noted how the Octagon-side cut-man was telling the referee that he could work on the wound in between rounds, but the doctor was adamant that the fight should not continue. He added: "I can hear the cut-man outside shouting ‘I can fix that. If you can get him to the end of the round I can fix that’.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW

"So I just started getting a bit antsy, and my corner started getting antsy and all of a sudden he’s like ‘Fractured, fractured’. I’m like ‘Well it can’t be fractured, I’m f***ing walking on it’. They waved it off, get back to the room they tell us they think it’s a fracture."

Shore headed to the hospital with his team, where a quick X-Ray revealed that nothing was broken, stitching him up and sending him on his way in 20 minutes. He also noted that the loss actually was a tougher pill to swallow than the first loss of his career, when he was tapped out by Ricky Simon via a second-round neck and arm triangle in 2022.

He explained: "It took me a couple of months to get over that one. Not physically, just mentally. It mentally took me a couple of months to get myself right and every time someone would ask me about the cut and tell me how s*** it was that the doctor stopped it, it would kind of spiral me a little bit again and bring back a couple of negative thoughts.

"Nothing serious, but just put me in a bit of a rut. But obviously my family and friends and my team pulled me out of it and here we are again." With an impressive record of 17-2, Shore is to return to the Octagon this weekend to take on 15-5-1 Youssef Zalal at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Canada, on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs Albazi.

The well-rounded fighter admitted that his opponent is also a jack of all trades despite predominantly being a kickboxer, and that he's excited to see how their styles clash. He explained: "Very good guy. Very good kickboxer but his last few wins have come by submission.

"He’s obviously good everywhere, got a good style. Yeah not a lot else to say, he’s very good everywhere and he’s a tough, tough fight. But he’s going in there very confidently and I feel as though my style matches up well with his, I’m sure he feels the same way. We’ll see on Saturday night when we clash who’s got the better skillset."

Jack Shore takes on Youseff Zalal at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Canada, come November 2. You can watch the bout live through the UFC Fight Pass.