Henry Cejudo is seemingly still grappling with the sting of his recent, highly contentious defeat.
Cejudo made his return to the Octagon last weekend, headlining UFC Seattle against Song Yadong. However, the fight took an unfortunate turn, ending in dispute when an accidental eye poke prematurely halted the bout.
Late in the third round, "Triple C" was on the receiving end of an accidental eye poke, forcing him to take the allotted five-minute recovery time. Though the fight briefly resumed, the former two-division UFC champion acknowledged that his vision was impaired heading into the next round.
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Consequently, referee Jason Herzog had no choice but to wave off the contest, sending the bout to the judges' scorecards, where Yadong was awarded a technical decision victory.
Cejudo didn’t hold back on social media after the fight, voicing his frustration over the way it ended. He claimed to have suffered diplopia, soft tissue damage, and multiple serious injuries as a result of Yadong’s strike.
And on Wednesday, "Triple C" shared a video on social media of himself calling referee Herzog to challenge his decision not to deduct points from "Kung Fu Kid" for the eye poke. He also criticized the veteran referee for not intervening a second time when Yadong persisted with extended fingers, despite being explicitly instructed to keep them tucked.
One, you didn’t take a point," Cejudo said. "And then two, when I took the five-minute break and we ended up coming back to actually fight, like, I still wasn’t recovered, but that dude still came here [with outstretched fingers], and you didn’t do anything. Luckily, I couldn’t see – or at least I saw four arms – but you never warned him, or you never took away a point.
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In his defense, Herzog refrained from justifying his decision to stop the fight. Instead, he acknowledged Cejudo’s criticism and even admitted that he should have deducted a point from Yadong for the eye poke.
I’m not trying to say that it’s right or wrong and I’ve heard you now and I completely agree," Herzong said. "Especially afterwards when he came out with his fingers like this [pointing out], why didn’t you [I] then stop it and take a point immediately… I think that’s a very valid criticism and an adjustment that I probably should have made. I think that’s a fair point... I can’t say that you’re wrong and when I watched it again, I’m like ‘Yeah, I should have probably stopped it and taken a point.’
Hypothetically, if Herzog had deducted a point from Yadong, the fight’s outcome could have been entirely different. “Kung Fu Kid” won with one judge scoring it 30-27, while the other two had it 29-28.
However, with a point docked, those 29-28 scores would have shifted to 28-28, resulting in a majority draw instead of a victory.