A Double Eye Poke Ends the Main Event in Round Four

The UFC returned to Washington for tonight’s Seattle fight card. The headliner is a five-round fight between former two-division champion Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong.  Triple C has stated that this is it for him; he will have one last run at the title until he hangs it up for good. Something former rival  Dominick Cruz recently did. He is on a two-fight losing streak after facing former Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling and current Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvilli. He is facing a dangerous up-and-coming fighter in Song Yadong who is also looking to rebound after losing his last fight to Petr Yan. Which fighter will get back on track and get a huge main event victory? 

Both fighters came out with fast twitch faints trying to size each other up. Henry was the aggressor to start walking Song down while Song was waiting to counter. Each landed some nice shots but Song landed more often and more efficiently throughout the first round. To start round two Song was moving forward landing some good jabs and leg kicks that seemed to bother Henry. Song looked like he was starting to gain momentum but Henry was able to land some solid left jabs and straight lefts that cut Song at the end of round two. Switching stances has seemed to work well in Henry’s favor and he is finding a rhythm. Both fighters started to open up and land crisp shots testing each other's chins. Things began to pick up before back-to-back penalties on Song stunted the round. After a bad double eye poke Henry could not see out of his left eye and Jason Herzog called the fight at the start of round four. It went to the judge's scorecards and they gave the technical decision victory to Song Yadong. 

This was an exciting main event as the entire fight was kept on the feet throughout. Unfortunately, the fight had to result in a stoppage due to a bad eye poke but that should not discredit the fantastic display by both men. Henry at 38 years old looked sharp and powerful and was able to pick his shots and land well throughout. Song was able to stuff every takedown attempt that was thrown his way and was able to slip and counter beautifully throughout the fight. When both fighters were able to go first, be aggressive, and open up, they were able to do some real damage to each other. A controversial ending puts a damper on this contest and we will see what happens next for both fighters. 

I believe that Henry will not call it a career this way. He will fight again and most likely rematch Song Yadong. Song has yet to have his statement win over a top name in the Bantamweight division. Even though he got the victory in this fight he was determined to run this fight back and leave no doubt in his victory next time. Fans would want to see a rematch between these two but it most likely will play out the same. Unless Henry can truly commit and take the fight to the ground I don’t see a path of victory for him on the feet. We will see if Dana White and his staff will try and run this fight back at some point this year.