UFC Seattle was a humongous disappointment for Henry Cejudo. Not only did he lose the fight against Song Yadong, but he also got out with an injury to his eye. Following the bout, reports revealed that he had suffered corneal abrasions and had diplopia during the fight. Basically, it means that he was seeing double of everything. Well, fighting two Yadongs would be nigh on impossible, don’t you think? But that’s not the sole reason why he was upset. Part of the blame lay with Jason Herzog and the hospital bills.

During a recent episode of the Pound4Pound podcast, Kamaru Usman weighed in on Yadong vs. Cejudo and pointed out that the referee should have at least warned the Chinese fighter. But ‘Triple C’ confirmed that Herzog didn’t even warn ‘Kung Fu Kid’ when he poked Cejudo in the eye. No doubt, he claimed that it should have cost his opponent some points.

As per the former welterweight champion, the blame was mostly on the referee. He said, “I think the ref dropped the ball there, as far as warning. Especially after the eye poke.” It was probably true that Yadong thought that his fingers weren’t pointing at his opponent. A warning from the referee might have sorted this out. 

But that one mistake cost Cejudo a fortune. The former double champion said, “That just cost me $150K, dude. I got kids, bro. That is the prize money for me.” When you’re a father of 2, you need all the money you can get, don’t you? Nevertheless, this came with a realization. He continued, “And I apologize to everybody who I’ve ever doubted. It’s not until it happens to you, man, you’re just like f—, dude, maybe it was time for me to eat some humble pie here, man.” 

Henry Cejudo was adamant in his take regarding the points. If a fighter repeatedly extends his fingers and eye pokes tend to occur, the referees usually take away points from the fighter. But that didn’t happen in UFC Seattle. However, Cejudo had a chance to go out with a no-contest. But he decided to stay and it all ended with a defeat. 

Why didn’t Henry Cejudo walk out with a no-contest against Song Yadong?

Kamaru Usman asked Cejudo if he really knew about the rules. Had he stopped before the 3rd round, the bout would have been considered as a no-contest. That’s what happened when Leon Edwards poked Belal Muhammad’s eye and the fight was stopped early on. This put the bout on the list of no-contests. And it seemed like he was well aware of that. 

‘Triple C’ responded, “Yeah, I did, Kamaru. And I can see where people, Kamaru, kinda took it, ‘cause I’m smiling. But that’s just me. I kind of did this like, ‘Hey, you guys. Give me a second, dude. Like I’m gonna fight. I’m just waiting for my eyesight to come back.’ I can open my eyes. The only problem is I was seeing double. He pokes me in the eye and then he starts that third round like this [with open hands] with his f—— hands in front.”

According to the Olympian, it didn’t matter if the eye pokes were unintentional. They still happened and the damage was already done. Do you know what his ophthalmologist said? Cejudo was simply lucky, even though he had a dent in his eye. Well, that’s because if the poke had hit Cejudo’s pupil, he might have gone completely blind in that left eye. But was the outcome of the bout justified? Cejudo persisted in having his opponent’s points taken away.

What are your thoughts on the outcome of the fight between Cejudo and Yadong? Do you think the fight should have ended earlier? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.