The fallout from UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs Song continues; albeit this time, Henry Cejudo has directly confronted Jason Herzog about the fight-ending eye poke.
The drama surrounding the controversial ending to UFC Seattle will likely remain a major talking point for several weeks, if not months, although it’s nice to get some clarity on the matter from the man at the center of it all.
Earlier today, Henry Cejudo called UFC referee Jason Herzog to confront him over his decision not to punish ‘The Kung Fu Kid’ over his fight-ending foul – with the veteran official making an honest admission of his own.
Henry Cejudo confronts Jason Herzog over eye poke
In a video shared to his Instagram account, former double champion Henry Cejudo can be seen calling Jason Herzog directly from his home studio.
The video call starts with Cejudo laying out his stall; first, critiquing Herzog for not taking a point away from Song Yadong in the immediate aftermath of the nasty double eye-poke.
And then second, for his decision not to halt the contest a second time, when the popular Chinese standout continued to fight with outstretched fingers – despite being clearly warned to hold them back by the veteran referee.
“One, you didn’t take a point, and then two, when I took the five-minute break and we ended up coming back to actually fight, like I still wasn’t recovered, but that dude still came here [with outstretched fingers] and you didn’t do anything.
“Luckily, I couldn’t see – or at least I saw four arms – but you never warned him, or you never took away a point,” said Cejudo, at which point the video cuts to Herzog’s response.
“I’ll give you my perspective in the moment and then just so you hear it, and I’m not trying to say that it’s right or wrong, I’ve heard you now and I completely agree.
“Especially afterwards when he came out with his fingers like this [pointing out], why didn’t you [I] then stop it and take a point immediately… I think that’s a very valid criticism and an adjustment that I probably should have made. I think that’s a fair point.”
- NO MERCY: Henry Cejudo teases fight with former champion if Song Yadong rematch fails to materialize
Jason Herzog admits he should’ve taken point away after eye poke
An understandably emotional ‘Triple C’ explained how much of his frustration comes down to the fact that Herzog had gone through such scenarios with him in the locker room – scenarios that were not carried through to the fight itself.
“You say these rules in the back Jason, and I think that’s what kind of bugs me, that you specifically did this thing [outstretched fingers] – everything that you said [in the back] happened to me and there’s no point taken away.
“I have a loss on my record, Jason, because you didn’t make the right call and that bugs me a little bit.”
Whilst we’re yet to hear the full conversation, Herzog did admit that he should have taken a point away from Song Yadong.
“I can’t say that you’re wrong and when I watched it again, I’m like ‘Yeah, I should have probably stopped it and taken a point.’”
Had Herzog taken the point as many believe he should have, the result would have been a majority draw – going from 28-29, 28-29, and 27-30 (Song); to 28-28, 28-28, and 27-29.
If you need a more detailed breakdown of the scoring, veteran official John McCarthy had a fascinating explanation as to what went wrong at UFC Seattle.