Henry Cejudo arrived at UFC Seattle with high hopes of snapping his losing streak and reigniting his run toward the title. In a playful moment at the weigh-ins, he cracked open a fortune cookie that boldly predicted a fourth-round TKO victory in his favor. But fate had other plans. An accidental double-eye poke from Song Yadong left Cejudo struggling with his vision in the fourth round. Despite using the full five-minute recovery time, his sight didn’t return to normal. Eventually, the ringside doctor stepped in, calling an end to the fight and leading to a technical decision win for Yadong.

Some critics accused “Triple C” of pushing past the initial five minutes only to then declare he couldn’t see—alluding to him wanting out of that bout. However, others—including the commentators—acknowledged the severity of the eye poke and agreed that ending the fight was the right call. Cejudo is now diagnosed with diplopia, a condition where tissue damage in the eye causes retinal scratch, leading to double vision. ESPN MMA took to their Instagram account to give the details of the injury.

The caption read, “Henry Cejudo revealed the damage to his eye after suffering eye pokes against Song Yadong at #UFCSeattle”. While many have questioned Cejudo’s injury the picture in the post makes it very clear that he indeed was injured. Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has now shown his support towards him and commented, “Remember guys, he’s “faking it”. 

Remember Aljamain Sterling vs Petr Yan 1? The former champion himself was part of a controversial decision at UFC 259 against the former Russian champ. Yan threw a knee at a downed Sterling, leading the referee to disqualify ‘No Mercy’ and award the win and title to ‘Funk Master’. Many people didn’t like the way Aljo ‘won’ the title, going as far as accusing him of pretending to be hurt. However, the New York native shut all his critics down when he decisively beat Yan in their rematch at UFC 273.

This isn’t the first time where a person who got poked in the eye ended up losing the fight. Remember Chris Weidman and Bruno Silva? Yes, that fight had multiple eye pokes, but the most devastating one came in the third round when an eye poke sent Silva crashing to the canvas in pain. However, the referee didn’t see the eye poke and stopped the fight after the All-American wrestler landed vicious ground-and-pound. Despite appealing to have his loss overturned, Silva found no success and now has a loss due to being eye poked on his record.

Regarding Song Yadong and Henry Cejudo—calls for the result to be overturned grew louder, with many arguing that the fight had ended unfairly. However, Dana White quickly shut down that idea, making it clear that the decision would stand. Still, that didn’t deter Cejudo from pushing for what he believed was justice.

Henry Cejudo is desperate to get a rematch with Song Yadong after his loss

At the post-fight press conference, a reporter brought up the possibility of a rematch between Song Yadong and Henry Cejudo. But Dana White, having witnessed everything unfold, wasn’t interested in running it back. He made it clear that a rematch wasn’t on his radar. He said, “I just don’t want to see it again.” The UFC head honcho also made it clear that he did not feel that the eye poke was done intentionally by the 27-year-old fighter. White further added, “Why would he poke him in the eye? He was doing pretty well.” However, Cejudo didn’t quite agree with the claims made by the UFC head honcho.

He said, “Did Song do it intentionally? No. Should there be a point deducted? 100 percent, man.” Now, the former UFC bantamweight champion has taken his frustration to social media. Sharing a post from ESPN MMA on his Instagram story, Cejudo highlighted the decisive moment—clear visuals of Song Yadong’s two fingers poking him in the eyes. It was the incident that ultimately brought the fight to an abrupt end. And with that, his protest against the “Kung Fu Kid’s” victory continued. The story of the caption read as, “Buy one get one free I guess. All respect but you should not be rewarded for committing a penalty like this.”   

Cejudo at 38-year’s-old is definitely at the twilight of his career and is now defeated in his last three fights. Do you think he will get the opportunity of a rematch this time around? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.