Henry Cejudo calls for Dana White to ‘man up’ amidst UFC’s ongoing eyepoke controversy

Former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo believes Dana White needs to take significant steps to reform penalties for eye pokes.

Henry Cejudo will make his final walk to the Octagon this Saturday at UFC 323 in Las Vegas. The former two-division UFC champion will call it a career after his upcoming fight with Payton Talbott, win or lose.

UFC 323 is Cejudo’s first fight since a technical decision defeat to Song Yadong earlier this year at UFC Seattle. After Round 2, Cejudo was deemed unable to continue fighting due to several accidental eye pokes from Yadong in the previous round.

Cejudo’s eye poke incident wasn’t the most high-profile incident of its nature this year. UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall’s fight at UFC 321 came to an abrupt end after double eye pokes just minutes into the bout.

UFC CEO Dana White has repeatedly dismissed calls for significant changes to how infractions, such as eye pokes, are handled by officials. Cejudo is becoming more vocal about eye pokes ahead of his retirement fight.

Henry Cejudo challenges Dana White to ‘man up’ over UFC eye pokes

During a recent media scrum, Cejudo was asked about the UFC’s handling of the increased frequency of eye pokes in fights.

“I think everybody needs to man up,” Cejudo said.

“Dana White, the Nevada State Athletic Commission, the referees, and just make a f—— decision, man. That’s b——-. If we’re being warned in the back, alright, I’m going to start taking my warning, I’m going to start sticking you in the eye, too. I get a warning. Everybody just needs to f—— man up and step up, and make this thing official.”

“Dude, somebody could lose an eye. Bisping. I mean, how many… these dudes are deformed for life, dude. That sucks. You know what I’m saying?” Cejudo continued. “It sucks, one, that it happened to me, and two, Bethe Correira, there’s a lot of people that have eye issues that you guys don’t even know about.”(h/t MMA Fighting)