If Henry Cejudo is one thing, it’s stubborn. Don’t get us wrong, that stubbornness isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That trait of his—refusing to give up—is what propelled him to escape his difficult circumstances to achieve Olympic glory and UFC titles. Of course, having that trait comes with its flip side as was seen in his refusal to let the Song Yadong loss go. And why would he? He wasn’t the one who poked any eyes. In fact, he was the one that got poked in the eye and lost the bout in the end. And worse for him, UFC head honcho Dana White is in no mood to give him a rematch.
Most people would have hoped for the main event at UFC Seattle to have ended in a no-contest. Why? Well, Henry Cejudo, firstly, got poked in the eye after eating a low blow. His opponent, Song Yadong, was handed a technical decision victory, but the Olympic gold winner doesn’t consider this fight a loss. In fact, both ‘The Kung Fu Kid’ and ‘Triple C’ are ready for a rematch and the 38-year-old veteran made it clear to Dana White that this is what he wants to do next.
“Let us settle this [Dana White].” Henry Cejudo stated on his Instagram story after sharing the conversation he had with Song Yadong on X. This is probably the third time he’s been calling for it, but his employer is employing the very trait we discussed about Cejudo above; stubbornness.
May 4, 2023, Newark, NJ, NEWARK, NJ, United States: Newark NJ – May 4: Henry Cejudo speaks to the press and the fans at UFC288 – Sterling vs Cejudo – press conference, PK, Pressekonferenz at Prudential Center on May 4, 2023 in Newark, NJ Newark, NJ United States – ZUMAp175 20230504_zsa_p175_014 Copyright: xLouisxGrassex
Dana White doesn’t want to see a rematch between Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong. And then he added more fuel to the fire by claiming that eye pokes aren’t a novelty in this sport even though nobody wants such things to happen. “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,” the 55-year-old said during UFC Seattle’s post-fight presser.
But is that it? Should Dana White leave the continued instances of eye pokes unattended? Well, not according to a UFC veteran who seems to have had enough of these incidents and wants the promotion to have stricter rules after what happened with Henry Cejudo.
Former UFC champion wants stricter rules for eye pokes after the Henry Cejudo incident
Michael Bisping, who was on commentary duties last weekend, appeared livid after there was no point deduction when Song Yadong double-poked Henry Cejudo. “Take a point… referee needs to take point,” he said during commentary. However, because there has been no talk about changes to cater eye pokes, the former middleweight champion wants the UFC to penalize fighters so that such incidents slowly cease to exist.
“There was about a minute left when the eye poke happened. Number one, I think we should’ve seen a point deduction. I don’t say that because I want to see Song Yadong’s career jeopardized or anything like that,” Michael Bisping stated on his YouTube channel. “If you start taking points, people will stop stretching their f****** fingers out. And when the third round started, there was only a minute left. Song Yadong had his fingers out, and so did Henry Cejudo!”
Coming back to the rematch calls, both Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong are in agreement, so what’s stopping Dana White? There is no title on the line, so maybe he gives the green light. However, we’ll have to wait for further developments on this front. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.
The post Henry Cejudo Doubles Down On Dana White to Change Stance as Controversial Eye-Poke Ends Song Yadong Fight on a Bad Note appeared first on EssentiallySports.
