Song beats Cejudo after eye poke ends UFC Seattle main event
Song Yadong earned a controversial win over Henry Cejudo in the UFC Seattle main event Saturday night.
Cejudo was unable to continue at the end of the third round because of an eye poke. As a result, the fight went to the scorecards and Song won via technical decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
Song poked Cejudo in the eye with less than two minutes left in the third round. Cejudo took the full five minutes of recovery time allotted for eye pokes, then agreed to continue. After Song and Cejudo completed the round, Cejudo told his corner he still couldn't see out of his left eye, and the fight was stopped shortly thereafter.
"I didn't know what he was throwing at me," Cejudo said in his postfight interview. "I wanted to continue. But if I can't see, then he's gonna hurt me."
Per the Unified Rules of MMA, the fight went to the scorecards because more than half of the scheduled rounds had been completed. Had the fight ended as soon as the eye poke occurred in the third round, it would've either resulted in a no-contest or a disqualification victory for Cejudo.
Also, had referee Jason Herzog deducted a point from Song, the fight would've been ruled a majority draw after three rounds of action (because two judges had it scored 29-28 for Song).
Song said afterward that he wants a rematch. Cejudo was in agreement that it could happen next, seemingly ruling out another retirement for the time being.
"Of course. We can run it back," Cejudo said. "100%. F--k dude. That finger went in my eye pretty good."
The fight - which took place entirely on the feet - was relatively competitive through three rounds. Song was the quicker, sharper striker and outlanded Cejudo 84-67 in significant strikes. But Cejudo got in his own offense and traded punches with his younger opponent. Cejudo failed on three takedown attempts.
Song and Cejudo were ranked No. 8 and No. 7, respectively, in the division going in.
Song got back in the win column after suffering a decision loss to former champion Petr Yan at UFC 299 last March. The 27-year-old Chinese fighter is 3-1 in his last four outings.
Cejudo is riding a three-fight losing streak for the first time in his career. The 38-year-old came out of retirement in 2023 and lost to Aljamain Sterling by split decision in a bantamweight title fight. Then he lost to current champ Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision at UFC 298 last February.
Cejudo, a former simultaneous two-division champion, hasn't earned a victory since a bantamweight title defense against Dominick Cruz in May 2020, after which he announced his retirement. "Triple C" held the flyweight title from 2018-2020 and the bantamweight belt from 2019-2020.