SEATTLE – Regardless of the ending, Dana White would like to move on after the UFC Fight Night 252 headliner.
Song Yadong (22-8-1 MMA, 11-3-1 UFC) defeated Henry Cejudo (16-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) by technical decision in Saturday’s headliner at Climate Pledge Arena. The fight went to the judges’ scorecards after Cejudo told his corner that he couldn’t see at the end of Round 3 due to an accidental eye poke he suffered midway through the round.
But because Cejudo opted to finish the round after taking the full five minutes to recover, the scorecards decided the victor. Both Cejudo and Song are open to running things back, but White has no desire for a rematch.
“Not at all,” White told reporters including MMA Junkie during the post-fight news conference. “Not even a little bit. I just don’t want to see it again.”
The UFC CEO said he wasn’t surprised that the fight ended shortly after Cejudo was poked in the eye.
“Song looked good,” White said. “Only (Cejudo) can answer those questions. I don’t know if he thought, ‘If I stop here, is this a DQ, a no contest?’ I don’t know what he was thinking, or maybe he can’t see.”
White also didn’t think referee Jason Herzog should have deducted a point since the eye poke was unintentional.
“If you thought he intentionally poked him in the eye (he should have taken a point) Do you believe it was intentional?” White said. “Why would he poke him in the eye? He was doing pretty well. If he was getting his ass whooped, and poked him in the eye, you could probably make the argument.
“Listen, eye pokes are never good, but they happen a lot, and fights do continue after eye pokes. I don’t know. I’d have to look and see how many fights are actually stopped due to an eye poke. Not many.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 252.
