Within the aftermath of his third straight loss, Henry Cejudo is adamant that circumstances should give him one other shot at Song Yadong.
Song (22-8-1 MMA, 11-3-1 UFC) beat former two-division champion Cejudo (16-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) with a technical decision within the UFC Fight Night 252 most important event at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. The five-round fight was scored after three rounds when Cejudo said he now not could see because of a third-round inadvertent eye poke.
Cejudo posted on social media to say due to poke, he doesn’t think he lost the fight, and doesn’t think Song won. Each fighters are curious about a rematch, though UFC CEO Dana White implied after the event it’s not going.
“Thanks to all of my fans and all of my haters,” Cejudo posted. “Well that’s not how I wanted the night to finish for the fans, for Song, and definitely not for myself. We want to run this fight back ASAP!!! @danawhite I heard what you said but I encourage you to reconsider. All respect to Song, you might be a warrior… but you probably did not win this fight and I didn’t lose. We’ve unfinished business. And I do know that you just agree. Run. It. Back. #UFC Seattle”
Replays showed Song caught Cejudo with an open hand in each eyes. Cejudo later said vision in his right eye was OK, but he couldn’t see out of his left. Immediately after the poke, Cejudo took the whole lot of his five-minute recovery time. At times within the five minutes, it appeared he was able to restart, then told referee Jason Herzog he needed more time until the five minutes was exhausted.
What level of possible gamesmanship was at work by Cejudo is up for debate. During his five-minute recovery break, he appeared to have some lighthearted moments with Herzog and the fans, who booed when he sat down on the canvas together with his back against the cage for a portion of the timeout.
On the restart, Song got here out quickly and put the pressure on in the ultimate seconds of the round, but in between frames Cejudo told his corner, Herzog and the cageside doctor he couldn’t see. After some confusion about how the official result needed to work inside the foundations, the three complete rounds were scored and Song had the scorecards from all three judges.
Cejudo was bantamweight and flyweight champion, but retired unexpectedly in 2020 after a bantamweight title defense against Dominick Cruz. He returned three years later and challenged Aljamain Sterling for the 135-pound title, but lost. Nine months later, he lost to recent champion Merab Dvalishvili. And now the lost to Song gives him a three-fight skid for the primary time in his profession, all since he returned from his three-year retirement.
Song, who was greater than a 2-1 favorite within the fight, got back within the win column after a loss nearly a yr ago to former bantamweight champ Petr Yan. He now has won six of his past eight at bantamweight, however the Cejudo victory is the largest of his profession.
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