Henry Cejudo has issued two social media statements reacting to his third consecutive UFC loss.
The previous dual-weight champion hoped to get back within the win column against Song Yadong at UFC Seattle – but their principal event matchup resulted in controversy after an inadvertent eye poke within the third frame.
Henry Cejudo took the complete five minutes to attempt to get well from the painful foul that went unpunished.
Worrying footage shows ‘Triple C’ telling his corner he can’t see before the fight was waved off and Yadong was declared the winner courtesy of a 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27 technical decision.
Henry Cejudo provides health update
Cejudo gave the impression to be high quality as he joked about being brothers with one-eyed MMA legend Michael Bisping during a post-fight interview – but he was still sent to the hospital to be checked over by doctors after UFC Seattle.
“Diplopia, Soft Tissue Damage, Corneal Abrasion. “hE wANteD a wAy OuT” #UFCSeattle,” the 38-year-old tweeted alongside an image of his damaged eye after getting his injury assessed by medical professionals.
Cejudo also took to Instagram to debate his latest fight and the damaging eye poke that ended it.
“Guys, we wanted to complete the fight, man,” he said.
“Obviously, I got poked in the attention with two rattling fingers. Typically, after I get poked, I’m good. The identical reason I used to be smiling and whatnot – but after those five minutes were up, I still couldn’t see anything. It’s not that I couldn’t see anything, I used to be seeing double.
“I just got back from the hospital without delay and I don’t even know the term. Diplopia? It’s whenever you get tissue damage in your eye, you just about freaking scratch your retina where you’re in a position to see double.
He added: “It’s unlucky, man. I wanna give a giant shout-out to Bisping. He got here out the back and was like, ‘I lost an eye fixed due to something people think is a joke’.
“I’m gonna see a specialist tomorrow, and hopefully, this thing goes by. Hopefully, the double vision I’m feeling without delay goes away and I’m f—ing normal tomorrow since it sucks, dude. It sucks and also you type of get nauseous just a little bit.”
Henry Cejudo wants rule change after eye poke
Cejudo believes the UFC should implement a rule change after his fight with Yadong.
UFC referees can currently only use replays to review illegal blows that occur at the tip of fights.
“Did Song do it intentionally? No. Should there be some extent deducted? 100%, man,” Cejudo continued.
“I just hope that the UFC can possibly allow replays for things like that, after which the referee could make the choice whether [it’s a foul].
“As a fighter, certainly one of the primary things the referee says, after they go within the back, is, ‘You can’t stick your fingers out like that’. I believe the warning is already said before the fight. I ultimately got f—ing poked with two fingers.
“Once Song got here [at me] after getting that five-minute break, I saw 4 arms, dude. It’s unlucky.
“I believe there’s loads of things we are able to do. It’s not Song’s fault. I’m not p—– at him. But I’ll say this, Jason Herzog, I’m curious to refer to you, man. I got kicked within the balls a few times after which eye poked.
“Bro, something needs to be done. I believe as referees too we could all learn. I also think for the UFC, possibly there ought to be something where there may be a replay, where the referee is in a position to see the replay. Even when it wasn’t intentional, you continue to cannot do that.”
