Henry Cejudo continues to endure misery! The former two-division UFC champion, who ‘retired’ in 2020, when he was in his prime (allegedly as part of a negotiation tactic than anything else), returned to the UFC with his tail between his legs looking to regain his past glory in 2023. But not only has he failed to do that, his comeback has been a disaster.
‘Triple C’ is 0-3 since his return, with the latest being a disastrous loss to Song Yadong at UFC Seattle last week. But the cherry on the top was the way the Yadong fight ended. Assuming the Olympian was not pretending to be hurt, it seems he bravely fought through an eye-poke in the third round, even as he was temporarily blind in one eye.
“I couldn’t see out of my left [eye]. My right’s OK, but I think even that last minute when he was chasing [me], I didn’t know what he was throwing at me. I can’t see from the left, so I wanted to continue, I continued, but if I can’t see, bro, this dude’s going to hurt me,” Cejudo told reporters after the fight. The referee forced the start of the fourth round, despite the former UFC flyweight champ telling his corner at the end of the third that he couldn’t see out of his left eye, only to end it abruptly shortly after, and Cejudo lost on the judges’ scorecard. However, the Chinese bantamweight, eager to prove that he could have beaten the Olympic gold medallist fair and square, has made a unique offer to Cejudo.
“If the UFC doesn’t want to set it up, I’ll go to his gym and we can spar there. We’ll see who’s better that way, easy money for me,” Yadong told Ariel Helwani on the latter’s show.
Song Yadong says he’s happy to go to Cejudo’s gym to spar with him if the UFC doesn’t book the rematch.
“If the UFC doesn’t want to set it up, I’ll go to his gym and we can spar there. We’ll see who’s better that way, easy money for me.”
[The Ariel Helwani Show]#UFCSeattle pic.twitter.com/Y58I2u0noj
— Verdict (@VerdictMMA) February 25, 2025
And that seems like the best bet for a Yadong-Cejudo rematch. It is important to note that the referee didn’t think the eye-poke was intentional or he would have deducted a point from Yadong or even ended the fight and handed ‘The Kung Fu Kid’ a disqualification loss if need be.
However, it does seem like the eye-poke was accidental. And the way the fight ended, many felt the rematch was in order. Nevertheless, the only person whose opinion on a potential rematch matters is Dana White. So what did the UFC CEO think of that?
Dana White too rubs salt on Henry Cejudo’s wounds
Both ‘Triple C’ and ‘The Kung Fu Kid’ were game for a rematch. “Sorry, that was totally accidental. The result is not what I want, but I’m so sorry Henry. He’s a legend, and I think we should run it back. We will fight again. Sorry, fans,” Song told reporters at the post-fight presser, a sentiment wholeheartedly shared by Cejudo. “Of course, we can run it back, 100 percent,” the former champ said.
But Dana White poured cold water on these plans. “Not at all,” White said at the post-fight presser when asked about a potential rematch. “Not even a little bit. I just don’t want to see it again,” White reiterated, twisting the knife in Cejudo’s heart. So if the American indeed wants to redeem himself and clear his name (since many feel he played up the damage from the eye-poke), the gym is the only place to do that. Unless, of course, Cejudo retires, as many feel he should. What do you think about Song Yadong’s offer for Henry Cejudo?
The post Song Yadong Rubs Salt on Henry Cejudo’s Humiliating Loss After Controversial Eye-Poke With a Cold Offer For Redemption appeared first on EssentiallySports.