UFC 244 Doctor Receiving Death Threats In The Wake Of Controversial Fight Stoppage

The doctor responsible for stopping the main event at UFC 244 on Saturday revealed in a new interview that he has received death threats for his decision.

Dr. Nitin K. Sethi spoke Monday about the threats in an interview with MMAFighting following the fight card at Madison Square Garden in New York. He told the website he had been receiving threats and was harassed by fans angered by his decision to stop the fight between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz because of the cuts Diaz suffered around his right eye. He revealed fans have called his office, made threats to his face and posted fake reviews about him online.

“I’m a very good neurologist and a very good doctor, and calling me f--king scum online and calling my office staff and yelling at them, threatening me, I fear for my health and safety,” Sethi told MMAFighting. “Somebody’s going to get hurt and it’s probably going to be me this time.”

Sethi is a neurologist who was tapped by the New York State Athletic Commission to serve as the cage-side doctor. The fight was a highly publicized bout, with Masvidal coming off his record-setting knockout of Ben Askren at UFC 239 and Diaz off a decision win against Anthony Pettis at UFC 241.

Diaz quickly suffered a cut above his right eye in the first round but was able to continue the fight into the second and third round. He would suffer a second cut under his right eye while the cut above appeared to worsen as the fight wore on. By the end of the third round, Sethi examined the cut and advised referee Dan Miragliotta to stop the fight.

“Going forward off that third round, I could not guarantee his health and safety,” Sethi said. “When in doubt, you have to do what you have to do to protect the athlete’s safety. His health and safety comes first. Every action of mine has to be viewed with that foremost in everybody’s mind, but that doesn’t happen.”

The fight was awarded to Masvidal as a result while the fighters and crowd voiced their frustration at the stoppage. UFC President Dana White voiced his support for Sethi’s decision and the stoppage at the UFC 244 post-fight press conference.

Sethi did partly blame UFC and commentator Joe Rogan for calling attention to his decision with a crowd that was audibly upset.

“You have a very, very charged crowd, and you just make it more charged,” Sethi said. “I was walking back [from the cage] and people from the top were yelling at me, ‘f--k this, f--k that.’”

He closed out by raising his concerns that this type of treatment could discourage doctors from making such calls in the future.

“After what happened to me, let me tell you one thing: The only thing sad about this will be you’ll have doctors who will now be very afraid to make calls,” Sethi said. “And when people are scared to make calls because they’re so afraid of the repercussions, I think we’re entering dangerous territory.”