Henry Cejudo is still talking about eye pokes a week after his loss to Song Yadong. To be fair, he just suffered an unfortunate loss to Yadong and is now on a 3-fight skid since his comeback from retirement.
The eye poke definitely hurt him badly, and he had a loss of vision during the fight, which caused him to be unable to continue after the 3rd round of the proposed 5-round fight. What made it worse was the referee not deducting a point from Yadong for the crime. If he had, this would have been labelled a no-contest.
But make no mistake, Cejudo was struggling long before Yadong’s fingers found his cornea. So much so, that when UFC CEO Dana White was asked about a potential rematch between Cejudo and Yadong, he simply told the media he wasn’t interested.
However, Cejudo remains unconvinced about being as capable in the octagon as he used to be.
To hammer the point home, he took to Twitter, saying, “Eye pokes are the greatest threat to the growth of this sport (unbiased)”
Eye pokes are the greatest threat to the growth of this sport (unbiased) #UFCVegas103
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) March 2, 2025
Sure, he may have been commenting on the overall issue of eye pokes, but let’s be real: this had ‘I’m still mad about my fight’ written all over it.
Eye pokes are a harsh reality of the sport, a reality that took away the vision of fighters like Michael Bisping. But are they really the biggest threat to the sport’s growth?
Not really. There are bigger problems that MMA is tasked with at the moment, from inconsistent judging, monopolistic fighter pay, or even the UFC’s injudicious matchmaking tendencies.
But ‘Triple C’ doesn’t see it that way. No pun intended!
In fact, he was so upset about the decision that he even called up Jason Herzog, the referee of the fight, to complain about how his poor decisions had cost him the fight.
Understandably, he is angry, but this constant complaining seems to be eating away at the goodwill he’s earned through his career.
Days after fans called for him to retire for good this time, his peers have also started sharing similar advice for the former Olympic gold medalist.
They do not want Henry Cejudo to keep up his charade.
‘Leave the fight before the fight leaves you’
At UFC Fight Night 252, Yadong looked way too sharp and fast for Cejudo to handle, at least on the feet, and for some reason, Cejudo didn’t even try to take the fight to the ground, which was a bit odd, and that is exactly what cost him the fight.
This has been the case with all three of Cejudo’s fights since making a comeback from retirement in 2023, 3 years after deciding to hang up his gloves.
His fight against Aljamain Sterling was somewhat close but the then champion edged out with a split decision win. But it has been embarrassing since then.
At UFC 298 in early 2024, Merab Dvalishvili lifted the Olympic gold medalist on his shoulders, walked across the octagon and dropped him on his back while chatting with Mark Zuckerberg. The fight ended in a unanimous decision win for Merab.
Needless to say, unless Cejudo really does something special, it’s hard to see him compete against the fighters in the upper echelons of the divisions.
Speaking about the situation, UFC flyweight Asu Almabayev advised Cejudo that he should really stop because he doesn’t need to do it anymore.
“This is a young man’s sport.”, he noted, adding, “This is something where if your body and your mind tells you that it’s time to go, then it’s probably time to go.”
Asu Almabayev believes Henry Cejudo should retire after UFC Seattle:
“This is a young man’s sport. This is something where if your body and your mind tells you that it’s time to go, then it’s probably time to go.”
(: @mikeHeck_JR) pic.twitter.com/JAVeWrCRyf
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) March 1, 2025
It’s a tough pill to swallow for a former champion, but the sport moves fast, and Cejudo doesn’t seem to be realizing it yet.
