Henry Cejudo wants to rematch Song Yadong after his bout with the Chinese contender at UFC Seattle ended in a controversial defeat.
Former two-division UFC champion Cejudo battled through almost three rounds with Song at Climate Pledge Arena before sustaining a nasty poke to the eye in Round 3 that forced him to take a lengthy injury timeout as he attempted to recover.
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Unfortunately, while Cejudo resumed the bout to make it to the end of the round, he was still unable to see clearly, and told his corner team as much between rounds.
The bout was eventually stopped at the start of the fourth round and, with the eye poke ruled as an accidental foul, the result went to the judges’ scorecards, with the three scorers awarding the bout to Song with scores of 29-28, 29-28, 30-27.
It meant that Song claimed the victory via technical decision, and left Cejudo frustrated in defeat on a technicality, rather than by a decisive action.
After the fight, Song apologized to Cejudo and the fans for what transpired, saying, “Sorry. It was a totally accidental. The result was not what I want. But I am so sorry, Henry. He’s a legend. And I think we should run it back. We will fight again. Sorry, fans!”
Speaking to former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, who lost the vision in one of his eyes after a bout with Vitor Belfort, Cejudo joked, “We’re about to be brothers, Bisping!
“I couldn’t see out of my left eye. My right’s OK. But I think even that last minute, when he was chasing, I couldn’t even see what he was throwing at me. I can’t see from the left.
“I wanted to continue, but if I can’t see, he was just going to hurt me.
“Of course. We can run it back, 100 percent. But that f*****g finger went in pretty good.”
UFC president and CEO Dana White revealed backstage that he had no interest in booking a rematch between the pair, answering a question about the topic with a resounding, “Not at all. Not even a little bit. I just don’t want to see it again.”
But Cejudo later posted a video message to his followers on Instagram as he spoke more about the night’s events.
Writing alongside the message, he explained that he sees his matchup with Song as “unfinished business” and reiterated that, despite White’s comments, he hoped that the UFC boss would reconsider and book a rematch to allow them both to produce a definitive result.
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“Thank you to all of my fans and all of my haters,” Cejudo wrote.
“Well that’s not how I wanted the night to end for the fans, for Song, and definitely not for myself. We need to run this fight back ASAP!!!
“Dana White, I heard what you said but I encourage you to reconsider. All respect to Song, you are a warrior… but you did not win this fight and I did not lose.
“We have unfinished business. And I know that you agree. Run. It. Back.”
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