‘We Wanted To Finish The Fight, Man’

The former “double champ” released a statement following his disappointing technical decision loss to Song Yadong last night (Sat., Feb. 22, 2025) in Seattle, which was stopped prematurely because of a bad eye poke.

Henry Cejudo is speaking out after an unfortunate eye poke led to him losing a technical decision against Song Yadong in the main event of UFC Fight Night Seattle.

The poke came with one minute left in the third round and saw Cejudo take the full five minutes to try and recover. But when the fight resumed he was forced to retreat from Song for the remainder of the round and told his corner on the stool that he couldn’t see. Referee Jason Herzog started the fourth round and immediately waved the fight off, sending the bout to the scorecards.

Song won 29–28, 29–28, and 30–27. If Herzog had taken a point for the eyepoke, the fight would have been a majority decision.

Cejudo was taken to the hospital following the event so he couldn’t speak to the press, but he’s now released a photo of the eye injury and a video speaking on the situation.

“Diplopia, soft tissue damage, corneal abrasion,” Cejudo wrote above a photo of his eye before mocking those who claimed he faked the injury. “He wANteD a wAy OuT!”

“We wanted to finish the fight, man,” he said in a video on Instagram. “Obviously, I got poked in the eye with two damn fingers. Typically, when I get poked, I’m good. The same reason why I was smiling and whatnot. But after those five minutes were up, I still couldn’t see anything. Or it’s not that I couldn’t see anything, I was seeing double.”

“So I just got back from the hospital right now and I don’t even know the term. Diplopia? When you get tissue damage in your eye, you pretty much freaking scratch your retina where you are able to see doubles. And it’s unfortunate, dude. Did Song do it intentionally? No. But should there be a point deducted? One hundred percent, man.”

“Intentional or not, one of the first things the referee says when they go in the back is you cannot stick your fingers out like that,” he continued. “And I think the warning’s already set before the fight. I eventually got poked, two fingers, I didn’t think it was too big of a deal. I told the crowd, give me some time, I’m gonna feel better, my eyesight is gonna come back. And by the time the five minutes were up … I thought maybe I can rough this out, but when Song came forward I saw four arms, dude.”

Cejudo repeatedly said he hoped things would change after this incident, that maybe instant replay could be used to assess fouls and result in more points being taken when they affected fights.

“I will say this to Jason Herzog: I’m curious to talk to you, man. Kicked in the balls a couple of times and then an eye poke. Bro. Something needs to be done … Even if it’s not intentional, it’s still done … They told me he was like a zombie with his fingers out.”

Cejudo has gotten a lot of hate online and not a lot of support in general for the raw deal he got in Seattle. But he did find an ally in commentator Michael Bisping, who knows how serious eye injuries in MMA can be.

“I wanna give a big shout out to Bisping,” he said. “He came out the back and was like, ‘I lost an eye because of some s—t that people still think is a joke.’”

Cejudo went on to call for a rematch with Song, suggesting he’d be willing to step back into the cage as soon as his eye healed and his 30 day medical suspension was up. With UFC CEO Dana White sounding completely uninterested in running things back, we doubt that will happen. But it doesn’t sound like Cejudo is done fighting, despite being 0-3 since returning to action in 2023 after a three-year break.

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For complete UFC Seattle results, coverage and highlights click HERE.