Former UFC champion Henry Cejudo has admitted that his most recent fight with Song Yadong could potentially have been his last.
The 38-year-old former UFC two division and Olympic champion sustained his third defeat in a row in February after it was determined that he was unable to continue after taking damage from an accidental eyepoke delivered by his Chinese opponent — and speaking to MMA Junkie, Cejudo explained that he is still dealing with the physical aftermath of the poke and it has led to questions as to whether or not he can continue his career.
“I sound like a cry baby, but it’s the worst injury I’ve had,” Cejudo said.
“Every time I watch TV or I’m looking down, I still see double. It’s been a month and it was a little pinkie that went inside and I’m still not 100 percent. My doctor said it would be 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 a certain way, I’ll see two feet. Luckily it’s only when I lay down or I look down, but it took me like five days for my eye to stop seeing double when I got hurt. It’s not the fact I couldn’t see, but I was seeing two people.”
He added: “I never really saw the sport of mixed martial arts as kind of dangerous. I talked 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 anyone 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 previously stepped away from the sport following a May 2020 bantamweight title defence against Dominick Cruz, returning three years later to challenge then-champ Aljamain Sterling for the UFC’s 135-pound title.
“I don’t want to leave — I don’t mind losing, but I don’t want to leave getting hit in my freaking eye ball,” Cejudo explained. “I definitely 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.”
