Henry Cejudo Suffers Eye Injury vs. Song Yadong at UFC Seattle

by

In the UFC Seattle event, Henry Cejudo, a previous two-division UFC champion and Olympic gold medalist, encountered an unforeseen conclusion in his match against Song Yadong. An unintentional eye jab during the third round prompted the officials to halt the fight, ultimately granting Song a technical decision win. Afterward, Cejudo disclosed the specifics of the injury that hindered him from continuing further.

Here’s what we know so far about Henry Cejudo’s eye injury.

How did Henry Cejudo get injured?

During UFC Seattle’s third round against Song Yadong, Henry Cejudo sustained an eye injury from an unintentional poke. This incident led the referee to momentarily halt the match, giving Cejudo five minutes to recuperate. Despite his efforts to carry on after the pause, Cejudo informed his corner at the end of the round that he couldn’t see properly. Consequently, officials decided to stop the fight and declare Song Yadong the technical decision winner.

Medical assessments determined that Cejudo experienced double vision, soft tissue trauma, and a scratch on his cornea. To showcase his injury, he shared an up-close picture of his affected eye on social media, accompanied by his diagnosis. Despite trying to carry on with the fight despite his injury, he stated, “After those five minutes were over, I couldn’t see anything clearly. It wasn’t that I couldn’t see at all; I was seeing two images.

Referee Jason Herzog decided against penalizing Song Yadong for the foul, which significantly influenced the fight’s final result. The judges scored the match as 30-27, 29-28, and 29-28 in Song’s favor. Without a point deduction, Song would have had a majority draw instead of a technical decision win.

After the fight, Cejudo chose not to attend the press conference and instead sought additional medical examination at a hospital. Later on, he advocated for rule changes within the UFC, suggesting that referees should be allowed to review replays of potential accidental fouls before making their decisions. In response to whether the action was intentional or not, Cejudo stated unequivocally that it was not, and emphasized that a point deduction was necessary in such cases.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Henry Cejudo (@henry_cejudo)

Contrary to his request, UFC CEO Dana White expressed reluctance, saying, ” frankly, I’m not keen on seeing it happen again.

Read More

2025-02-25 06:40