Woulda, coulda, shoulda …
Just four days after former two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion, Henry Cejudo, dropped a weird technical decision to Song Yadong after being unable to continue because of a nasty eye poke at UFC Seattle, and “Triple C” has already confronted referee, Jason Herzog.
And he did it on a zoom call, which he then later released. Indeed, Cejudo dropped a teaser clip of his conversation with Herzog on his Instagram.
“One, you didn’t take a point, and two, when I took the five-minute break — and we ended up coming back to actually fighting, which I wasn’t recovered — that dude still came [with his fingers pointed outward],” Cejudo said. “And you didn’t do anything.
“Luckily, I couldn’t see — or at least I saw four arms — but you never warned him or took away a point,” Cejudo added.
Herzog then shared his thoughts.
“I’ll give you my perspective at the moment,” Herzog said. “I’m not trying to say it’s right or wrong. I have heard you now, and I completely agree, especially after when he came with his fingers like that.
“Why didn’t I stop it and take a point immediately?” he added. “I think it is a very valid criticism and an adjustment that I probably should have made. I think that’s a fair point. I can’t say that you’re wrong.
“When I watch it again, I’m like, yeah, I probably should have stopped it and taken a point there,” Herzog concluded.
Veteran referee, John McCarthy, thinks it was a hot mess, too.
Prior to the phone call, Cejudo released footage of Herzog going over the rules backstage inside Climate Pledge Arena’s locker room. In the video, Herzog tells “Triple C” that if a fighter is warned about fouls and it happens again, he will take a point.
And if Herzog had deducted a point, the 135-pound bout would have instead been ruled a “technical majority draw.” Does it matter?
Watch below:
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This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
