Henry Cejudo is frustrated with his situation following the UFC Fight Night 252 main event against Song Yadong but has his sights set on a fellow former champ next.
Cejudo (16-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) believes he was starting to turn the tide in the fight against Song (22-8-1 MMA, 11-3-1 UFC) at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, but then a nasty eye poke late in the third round led to an early end of the fight. The poke was so severe that Cejudo could not continue to the fourth round.
“I saw the ophthalmologist today, dude, and this is what she said: She said if that pinky would have hit you in the pupil, you would be blind, dude,” Cejudo told Kamaru Usman on “Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru & Henry.” “I have a dent in my eye, dude.”
The fight went to the scorecards, with Song as the unanimous winner by technical decision. It’s a frustrating outcome for Cejudo, who believes referee Jason Herzog didn’t do enough to hold Song accountable for his actions in the octagon, pointing to an example of Song immediately pointing his outstretched fingers near his face when the fight resumed after the eye poke.
In an attempt to erase the sting of the situation, Cejudo hopes the UFC will book a rematch against Song in the near future, but promotion CEO Dana White has already said he’s not interested in seeing that matchup again. As a secondary option, Cejudo would like to face a fellow former champion.
“Petr Yan, man,” Cejudo said. “Obviously, Kamaru, I would love to run it back if Dana – you know, obviously this is Dana’s decision, dude. I know when he says certain sh*t, like he lays on it. But if we can’t run it back with Song, because I don’t feel like I lost to him. I really don’t bro.
“OK, I lost to Aljamain (Sterling), I lost to f*cking Merab (Dvalishvili), my last two fights. I don’t feel like that with this dude. If we can run it back and do a five-round – we could do it at the Apex, we could do it for free, dude. To me, at this point, it’s just about competing and really showing the competitive spirit in me. But if we can’t get Song, I would love to fight Petr Yan, dude. Petr Yan’s looking to fight in May. If the UFC is willing to give me that, I’ll take it.”
Usman provided some pushback on that call out, because he believes the UFC views Yan as someone who is potentially next in line for a title shot.
“They’re talking about (Sean) O’Malley and homeboy (Dvalishvili),” Cejudo replied. “What’s he going to do? Sit out for a f*cking year? Petr wants to fight in May, bro.”
Cejudo proceeded to call out Yan directly while speaking Russian.
“Let’s go dude,” Cejudo continued. “I’m here. I’ll be good by May. As soon as my eye clears up, which should be within days – and I’m still seeing double, Kamaru. As soon as it clears, I want to get back to the gym and just scrap, dude. I want to fight, dude. That’s all there is to it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 252.
