Henry Cejudo's Unexpected Decision Backfires in Bizarre UFC Fight

Replays showed Yadong accidentally poked Cejudo in the eye with two fingers during an exchange, leaving him struggling with his vision.

Referee Jason Herzog allowed the fight to continue after Cejudo's time out, and the third round eventually ended.

Between the third and fourth rounds, Cejudo told his corner, "I can't (expletive) see. I don’t know what the (expletive) he’s throwing at me. He's (expletive) blurry," prompting the doctor to stop the fight once and for all.

Had Cejudo opted to force a stoppage of the fight immediately after the foul and during his time out, the bout would have been ruled a no-contest.

Instead, since three full rounds had been completed, the judges’ scorecards were used to determine a winner and Yadong was awarded a technical decision victory with scores of 29–28, 29–28, and 30–27.

Cejudo sounded frustrated with the result after the fight, probably because of the lack of a point deduction that would have resulted in a majority draw.

"I wanted to continue. If I can’t see, he’s going to hurt me," Cejudo said. "Of course, we can run it back 100 percent. (Expletive), that finger went in my eye pretty good."

Yadong, who had been performing well before the stoppage, acknowledged the unintentional foul and apologized.

"That was totally accidental," Yadong said. "(This result) is not what I wanted. I’m so sorry, Henry. He is a legend, we should run it back." 

The UFC has yet to announce if an immediate rematch will happen, but given the nature of the stoppage, the possibility remains open as nobody seemed to be pleased with the outcome.