Henry Cejudo sounds off on how MMA officials handle eye-pokes: "Preach all that and when that sh*t actually happens, they don't do anything"

Henry Cejudo recently sounded off on how MMA officials handle eye-pokes during bouts regardless of intent and insinuated that they don't practice what they preach. He noted that it needs to be addressed the moment it occurs and penalized accordingly.

'Triple C' was on the receiving end of an accidental eye-poke during the third round of his main event bout against Song Yadong at UFC Seattle last Saturday. It turned out to be more severe than it initially looked as Cejudo was unable to continue after the third round and lost a technical decision after all three judges scored the bout in favor of Yadong.

During the latest episode of his Pound 4 Pound podcast, the former two-division UFC champion told co-host Kamaru Usman that Jason Herzog had issued a warning backstage prior to the bout with Yadong. Cejudo mentioned that officials warn the fighters, but questioned why they don't penalize them when they actually do it during a fight:

"We go to the back, Kamaru, with Jason Herzog the referee. We are warned, 'You cannot stick your fingers up top or that's an automatic point'. These guys preach all that and when that sh*t actually happens, they don't do anything. 'Well, it's not like he intentionally did it'. It doesn't matter, man, you did it."

Check out Henry Cejudo's comments below (8:51):

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Henry Cejudo says MMA officials need to enforce rules like other sports

Henry Cejudo also told co-host Kamaru Usman that MMA officials need to enforce rules like other professional sports do because if a foul occurs, it should be penalized.

During the aforementioned episode, Cejudo used basketball as an example to highlight the action not reflecting the intent and mentioned that it should be a similar rule among MMA officials, so fighters are more cautious and hesitant to commit a foul:

"It's like basketball, dude, if you travel, it's a travel. You didn't mean to do it but you did it, so now we gotta penalize [you]...But for MMA, it's not like that, dude, and it's unfortunate. So, there I am, Kamaru, I'm just running one minute and 16 there because I don't know what's going to come at me." [9:10]

Check out the official decision for Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong below: