22 hours Ago By Alexander K. Lee
Henry Cejudo | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC Henry Cejudo might be forced to walk away from fighting.The former two-division UFC champion was on the receiving end of a brutal eye poke from Song Yadong in the main event of UFC Seattle this past February, which resulted in a premature—and controversial—end to the fight as Cejudo lost a technical decision. Cejudo has since spoken about the severity of the damage to his eye and his issues with how the situation was handled by referee Jason Herzog.
In an interview with MMA Junkie, Cejudo, 38, speculated that the lingering injury could cause him to retire again should his condition not improve.“I never really saw the sport of mixed martial arts as kind of dangerous,” Cejudo said. “I’ve been talking to my wife and I think this could potentially be my last fight.
One more and that’s it. If I can run it back with Song, I would be happy with that. But if it’s not Song, I would like anybody that the UFC’s willing to give me.
“I want to be able to play with my kids. I want to be able to not f*cking lose an eye. That’s kind of how I’m feeling right now to be quite honest with you.
”Cejudo first retired in 2020 following a successful bantamweight title defense against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249. The win came on the heels of a successful flyweight title run, making Cejudo the only combat sports athlete in history to win an Olympic gold medal (in wrestling) and UFC championships in two divisions. He returned in May 2023 to challenge bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288, but fell short on the scorecards after a highly competitive fight.
Cejudo is currently 0-3 in his second UFC run.Now, he’s contemplating laying down the gloves again.“I sound like a crybaby, but it’s the worst injury that I’ve had,” Cejudo told MMA Junkie.
“I got a second opinion. I actually went to [Sean O’Malley’s] doctor, one of them, he said my eye would be good in a month, but then every time I watch TV or I’m looking down, I still see double. So it’s been a month, it was a little pinkie that went inside and I’m still not 100 percent, so the doctor said it’s looking like another month.
Korean Zombie has the same symptoms and it was the reason he had to retire. I’m seeing double. When I put my eye to a certain way, I’ll see two feet.
“Luckily, it’s only when I lay down or if I look down, but it took me, like, five days for my eye to stop seeing double when I got hurt. So it’s not the fact that I couldn’t see, I was just seeing two people, you don’t know which one’s which. So I could go out and reach it and I’m catching the wrong thing.
”“I got f*cked,” Cejudo added. “I wanted to fight. I just wanted to fight with f*cking two eyes.
”Cejudo is eager to step into the octagon one more time, if possible, with plans to have a proper retirement fight for once. However, his availability is dependent on the state of his eye, so there’s an outside chance that UFC Seattle marked the end of his legendary career.“I don’t mind losing, but I don’t want to leave getting hit in my freaking eye ball,” Cejudo said.
“It just can’t end like that. And I’m grateful. I love Dana [White] and everybody.
This isn’t a shot at the UFC. They’ve given me a platform to really help out my family, to really put myself in a great position to where I can set myself up for the future, but at the same time, my health is No. 1 above everything.
”“I’m not sure what the UFC has planned,” Cejudo added. “I definitely do want to fight some time in the fall. Let my eye heal, they said another 30 days, but if it doesn’t get better, I just don’t know when I’ll be back.
I think this is the last one, and that’s all she wrote.”TOP STORIESVIDEO STEWMichael Bisping and Rampage reunion.He hit hard.
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— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) April 1, 2025The Ankalaev trash talk continues. View this post on Instagram A post shared by MMA Fighting (@mmafighting)Makes sense. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Volkan Oezdemir (@volkan_oezdemir)Damn, fighters grow up so fast.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Erin Blanchfield (@blanchfield_mma)He hasn’t had a knockout since 2023, but you get the picture. View this post on Instagram A post shared by ‘The Future’ Ian Machado Garry (@iangarry)FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTSFINAL THOUGHTSHenry Cejudo’s comeback definitely wasn’t what he’d hoped it would be. He returned expecting to be greeted as the conquering hero, but his duel with Aljamain Sterling wasn’t met with much anticipation despite the contest turning out to be a compelling back-and-forth battle.
Then Merab Dvalishvili Merab’d him and now it’s all about the Song Yadong eye poke.Does he have one of those legacies that would be better off if he hadn’t fought again?EXIT POLLIf you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.
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