Henry Cejudo reacts after an eye-poke from Song Yadong in the bantamweight main event of UFC Seattle. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
Henry Cejudo’s comeback tour continues to go from bad to worse.
On Saturday, the former two-division UFC champion suffered his third consecutive loss since returning from retirement, though this one was a special kind of unlucky. Competing in the main event of UFC Seattle opposite Song Yadong at the Climate Pledge Arena, Cejudo lost a technical decision after suffering a grisly double eye-poke late in the third round that left him unable to see clearly out of his left eye.
The illegal maneuver occurred with a minute and change left in the third round and immediately followed a similarly illegal groin kick by Song. Cejudo diligently — and very deliberately — took the full five minutes allotted to him to try to recover. The action was then resumed and the two bantamweights finished out the round, however, upon going back to his corner, Cejudo repeatedly told his coaches that he was unable to see and asked to be inspected by a doctor. Referee Jason Herzog then forced the start of a fourth round before immediately halting the action and declaring the contest over.
Because three rounds of the five-round contest were completed, the fight then went to the scorecards, with Song winning via unanimous scores (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) despite throwing the fight-ending foul.
To further twist the knife in for Cejudo (16-5), the result would’ve ended in a majority draw if Herzog had taken a point from Song (22-8-1, 1 NC) for the blatant foul. It also could’ve resulted in either a no contest or disqualification for Song if Cejudo had declined to come out for the final minute of the third round.
“Sorry, that was totally accidental,” Song said post-fight. “The result is not what I want, but I’m so sorry Henry. He’s a legend, and I think we should run it back. We will fight again. Sorry, fans.”
“I couldn’t see out of my left [eye],” a frustrated Cejudo said. “My right’s OK, but I think even that last minute when he was chasing [me], I didn’t know what he was throwing at me. I can’t see from the left, so I wanted to continue, I continued, but if I can’t see, bro, this dude’s going to hurt me.”
“Of course, we can run it back, 100 percent,” Cejudo added.
It was an anticlimactic end to a contest that was just starting to heat up. Song, 27, opened the bout strong, out-striking the Olympic champion on the feet and defending all three of Cejudo’s takedown attempts. But Cejudo, 38, was still in it, bloodying Song with lunging punches and opening a small cut across the Chinese contender’s nose before the bizarre fight-ending sequence.
Cejudo now drops to 0-3 since his surprise retirement in 2020 as the UFC bantamweight champion. He returned in 2023 only to lose a split decision to then-champ Aljamain Sterling in a failed shot to reclaim the UFC bantamweight belt, then lost a unanimous decision to now-champ Merab Dvalishvili.
Song rebounded from a setback to former champion Petr Yan suffered this past March, though Saturday’s scenes were likely not how he envisioned returning to the win column.
In the night’s co-main event, middleweight dark horse Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez won a competitive unanimous decision over Brendan Allen in a rematch of a 2018 bout that took place on MMA’s regional scene, which Hernandez also won via unanimous decision. Hernandez is now 7-0 over his past seven UFC appearances.
Get complete UFC Seattle results and highlights below, as well as Uncrowned’s main card live blog.
Main Card
Bantamweight: Song Yadong def. Henry Cejudo via technical decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Middleweight: Anthony Hernandez def. Brendan Allen via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
140-pound catchweight: Rob Font def. Jean Matsumoto via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Featherweight: Jean Silva def. Melsik Baghdasaryan via first-round knockout (punches) at 4:15 | Watch finish
Light heavyweight: Alonzo Menifield def. Julius Walker via decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
Preliminary Card
Light heavyweight: Ion Cutelaba def. Ibo Aslan via first-round submission (arm-triangle choke) at 2:51 | Watch finish
Featherweight: Melquizael Costa def. Andre Fili via first-round submission (guillotine) at 4:30 | Watch finish
Middleweight: Mansur Abdul-Malik def. Nick Klein via second-round TKO (punches) at 3:24 | Watch finish
Bantamweight: Ricky Simon def. Javid Basharat via first-round knockout (punch) at 3:15 | Watch finish
175-pound catchweight: Austin Vanderford def. Nikolay Veretennikov via second-round TKO (punches) at 4:13 | Watch finish
Middleweight: Nursulton Ruziboev def. Eric McConico via second-round TKO (punches) at 0:33 | Watch finish
Light heavyweight: Modestas Bukauskas def. Raffael Cerqueira via first-round knockout (punches) at 2:12 | Watch finish
LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER53 updates
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 11:48 p.m. EST
Big drama in Seattle.
Henry Cejudo couldn’t see after that eye poke.
The fight could have been stopped right there and have been called a no contest.
The referee started the 4th round for one second in order for it to be considered a scoreable round.
RESULT: Song Yadong def. Henry Cejudo via technical decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 11:45 p.m. EST
The doctor continued to check the eye of Cejudo between rounds. Nothing of it, though — initially. Then suddenly, the doctor comes back, and the referee waves off the fight. Wow. What an unfortunate way to end this great night of action.
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 11:42 p.m. EST
Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong – Round 3
Song starts right in Cejudo’s face, delivering a hook to the body. Cejudo sends a straight back. A hard left hook lands for Cejudo. They trade jabs. Song strikes his way into the pocket as Cejudo waves him on. Cejudo lands a nice hook on an exit. Song teeps to the body. He strikes with it again, catching Cejudo low to pause the fight. Action restarts and they start going at it, punch for punch. A big knee from Song surprises Cejudo. Huge right straight lands for Cejudo. As Cejudo came forward, he took an eye poke to pause the fight. Cejudo is taking his time, which he very well should. Vision is kind of important, you know.
That was a long wait, but that’s the game. Great job by Cejudo. It’s back on.
Song presses forward instantly and lands a big uppercut. Song’s pressure is taking over as Cejudo just tries to cut angles but he gets no offense before the round ends. He still rallied for the majority of that to take it.
10-9 Cejudo (29-28 Song)
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 11:30 p.m. EST
Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong – Round 2
Cejudo starts the round trying to lunge in with his first punch and the big shot behind it. Song peppers him with a double jab. Two right straights connect for Song. Cejudo fakes a single and gets no connections out of it. Song walks through a big right hand. Hard leg kick from Song. Hard body kick lands from Song, and he slips. Cejudo takes a left hook and staggering low kick. The jab keeps finding a home for Song. Right hook from Song, but Cejudo lands one in return. A clean right from Cejudo sneaks to the chin of Song. A counter hook from Song lands, as Cejudo starts to press forward in the final seconds. He needs to change something up.
10-9 Song (20-18 Song)
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 11:24 p.m. EST
Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong – Round 1
Cejudo feints early with his kicks. Song is backed up, downloading data. He paws out the jab. Hard body kick from Cejudo. Song jabs to the body. Song starts to land the leg kick. Cejudo returns a pair of his own. A nice right hook counter catches Cejudo. They trade blows, punches and kicks. Timing doesn’t appear to be a problem for either. Cejudo teases his first single-leg takedown but gives it up. Song just moves out of the way when Cejudo comes in. Song catches Cejudo with a handful of punches in the final 10 seconds. An interesting first round.
10-9 Song
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 11:06 p.m. EST
Main event time
Who is it going to be? Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong closes out UFC Seattle in a bantamweight showcase with five rounds if needed.
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 11:05 p.m. EST
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 11:01 p.m. EST
RESULT Anthony Hernandez def. Brendan Allen via unanimous decision (29-28 All)
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 11:00 p.m. EST
Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez – Round 3
The rivals embrace at the start of the round. Allen sticks Hernandez to the body, while taking an eye poke to pause the action. Talk about a weird way for a round to start. Upon replay, that looked like a punch to me. Anyway, they get back at it. Hernandez takes a shot he doesn’t like and begins to squint and shoot a takedown that’s stuffed. Allen lands a nice uppercut-to-hook combo. Hernandez wrestles in to get ahold of Allen’s waist with a body lock. Hernandez works for something significant, but Allen’s maintaining his defense and low gravity against the cage. Hernandez lands some short shots to annoy the working Allen. Hernandez finds an opening for a near-face crank, but Allen again turns out. They’re just too evenly matched. Hernandez winds up on top to land some hammerfists and punches to close out the action. He needed every little bit of that, and likely goes 2-0 against “All-In.”
10-9 Hernandez (29-28 Hernandez)
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 10:53 p.m. EST
Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez – Round 2
Allen chops the leg as soon as the round starts. Hernandez shoots in for a takedown. He works for it, but gets it. Hernandez crushes Allen into the corner, seeking a guillotine before he spins out and over Allen to take the back. A choke attempt rotates Allen to his side. Hernandez loses position as Allen sprawls. Hernandez gets to side control before making his way back to the back. Some short shots land in between all these transitions, but nothing significant. Allen pushes Hernandez backward to get caught in a crucifix but spins out to get Hernandez’s back. The chokes are only leading these guys to their backs. That’s how well they defend. Hernandez stands and shakes off Allen, taking control once more. Round ends with Hernandez smashing some punches and elbows into the dome of Allen against the cage. It comes down to the third here.
10-9 Hernandez (19-19)
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 10:47 p.m. EST
Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez – Round 1
A hard leg kick lands early for Allen, and he follows it with a high kick that grazes Hernandez. “Fluffy” catches it and Allen tries to wrap around the back. He slides off, and Hernandez briefly gets on top as they scramble to the wall. Hernandez powers Allen down into side control. Allen moves to escape, but Hernandez just floats over top of him, taking a half-side position. Hernandez works to get the back, giving up the position as Allen reverses to get on top in half-guard. Allen threatens an americana, forcing Hernandez to turn and give up his back. Allen punches while teasing rear-naked chokes. He gets under the chin late but Hernandez manages to turn out of it. Some scary final moments there for Hernandez, who ate elbows in the process.
10-9 Allen
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 10:41 p.m. EST
Co-main event
It’s time for the co-main event rematch at middleweight between contenders Brendan Allen and Anthony Hernandez. “Fluffy” currently holds the lead in their series, defeating Allen in LFA before they reached the big stage.
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 10:30 p.m. EST
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 10:29 p.m. EST
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 10:27 p.m. EST
RESULT: Rob Font def. Jean Matsumoto via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 10:25 p.m. EST
Rob Font vs. Jean Matsumoto – Round 3
Font jabs his way into an exchange right away. Overhand right for Font gets through. Font goes over the top with a right hook and head kick that graze the target. A shot in tight appeared to slice Matsumoto. He’s bleeding from the forehead somehow. Font backs Matsumoto to the cage, and they each land hard hooks in succession. A heavy leg kick lands on the knee of Font. They trade elbows. Font punches his way into another clinch. An elbow stings Matsumoto as he defends and takes another with his back to the cage. Matsumoto attempts to trip his way out but fails. A push kick gets through for Font. The crowd erupts late. They start throwing wildly now! Seattle is on its feet. Holy hell the energy in this place is absurd as the fight comes to an end. Unfortunately for the veteran, too little, too late. But not for a lack of trying.
10-9 Font (29-28 Matsumoto)
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 10:19 p.m. EST
Rob Font vs. Jean Matsumoto – Round 2
Font gets back on the attack early but not to the same aggression. A slapping kick hits the guard of Font. A nice right-hand gets through for Font. Matsumoto jabs back, going for a takedown and getting caught in a guillotine. He powers out and pursues a better position. Font gets to his knee but stands off his other leg only to get dropped to his butt shortly after. Font burst out and starts to walk down his opponent. Matsumoto keeps chipping with his kicks low. Font rips the body. A clean right straight connects down the pipe for Font. Matsumoto ties the legs and gets Font to the mat. Font working his way up and out leads to another big Matsumoto takedown. He wall-walks to his feet and presses forward. Matsumoto lands a hook each. Font landed the nicer shots, but not a whole lot of them, while Matsumoto controlled the overall round better.
10-9 Matsumoto (20-18 Matsumoto)
Sat, February 22, 2025 at 10:13 p.m. EST
Rob Font vs. Jean Matsumoto – Round 1
Font came out guns blazing and drilled Matsumoto. The Brazilian clinched in defense. If any damage was done, Matsumoto is recovering by stalling into a potential takedown and landing knees to Font’s knee. Font escapes and jabs his way into a near uppercut that misses. Matsumoto presses, taking punches before he lands a takedown. Font somehow starts threatening with an omoplata. Matsumoto defends and gets to side control. They scramble briefly and get to half-guard with Matsumoto on top. Font finds an opening to explode up but gets caught in a guillotine attempt. It wasn’t really there. Matsumoto lets go and starts dropping punches. Font postures to his knees and stands with Matsumoto on his back. He hits a slam from behind to end the round. After that early flurry, Matsumoto gained momentum and took the round.
