Henry Cejudo recently sounded off on persistent eye pokes being an issue in MMA. Cejudo urged Dana White and athletic commissions to finally take action. Many fighters have been on the receiving end of eye pokes that caused serious injuries.
The former two-division UFC champion is clearly passionate about the subject, considering he lost a fight because of it. Earlier this year, Cejudo fought Song Yadong in the main event of UFC Seattle. In the 3rd round, Yadong caught ‘Triple C’ with a double eye poke.
Cejudo took the full five minute recovery time and still had trouble seeing. After the round, he informed his corner that he was unable to see and the fight resumed with the goal of going to the scorecards. He lost by technical decision.
During his press scrum ahead of UFC 323, Cejudo shared his honest thoughts on eye pokes. He believes the current protocols aren’t strict enough.
Cejudo pushed White to take a stand and come up with a unified solution alongside the athletic commissions.
“Dana White, the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the referees, and just make a [expletive] decision,” Cejudo said. “If we’re warned in the back, alright then, I’m going to start taking my fingers and I’m going to start sticking you in the eye, too. I get a warning. That’s not fair.”
He continued:
“Everybody needs to [expletive] man up and step up and make this thing official.”
Henry Cejudo Highlights the Danger of Eye Pokes
Henry Cejudo also highlighted the dangers of eye pokes and how they can be detrimental to a fighter’s career. There have been instances where those injuries resulted in permanent damage.
Cejudo and reigning UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall are two of the most high profiles cases this year alone.
Cejudo used Michael Bisping as an example. The former middleweight champion lost his eye after suffering an injury during his fight with Vitor Belfort. He managed to continue fighting, but he later admitted he was able to hide the extent of the damage from the commissions.
‘Triple C’ stressed that there needs to be more accountability for a fighter’s actions.
“Somebody could lose an eye. [Michael] Bisping, [his eye is] deformed for life, that sucks. It happened to me. Two, there’s Bethe Correira. There’s a lot of people that have eye issues that you guys don’t even know about,” Cejudo told reporters. “It starts here and I think it needs to be immediate. And if not, I think people need to be held accountable for that stuff.”
Cejudo Says New Gloves Won’t Solve the UFC’s Eye Poke Problem
Cejudo also doesn’t believe new UFC gloves can solve the issues with eye pokes. The promotion already went through an overhaul with its gloves. However, they returned to their original design shortly after.
The former two-division UFC champion believes that automatic point deductions would be far more impactful than new gloves.
“No, the glove, that’s a bunch of [expletive]. Just don’t [fight with your fingers pointing straight out). That’s it,” Cejudo said during his press scrum. “Anything that has to do with [eye pokes] should automatically be a point [deducted, anything [in the eyes]. Dude, keep your hands closed.”
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