Ahead of his first UFC main event, surging flyweight contender Asu Almabayev believes Henry Cejudo should go back into retirement after UFC Seattle.
Cejudo lost a technical decision following a brutal accidental eye poke by Song Yadong, and now the 38-year-old has dropped three straight fights since coming out of a short retirement. When asked about whether or not a point should’ve been taken — or if more points should be taken for fouls in general — Almabayev, who headlines UFC Vegas 103 against Manel Kape, didn’t have an opinion on ruleset, but more on Cejudo’s fighting future.
“I’m not a judge, I don’t know how to judge it, I don’t know who takes points away or who gives the points,” Almabayev told MMA Fighting. “I didn’t watch the fight. I just watched that little moment where there was an eye poke and and then I saw [how the fight ended].
“But obviously, if you think about it, Cejudo is not the same fighter that he used to be once. If you say to yourself that I’m going to retire, if you say to the world that I’m going to retire, then you should probably stay retired. This is a young man’s sport. This is something where if your body and your mind tells you that it’s time to go, then it’s probably time to go.”
The 31-year-old enters the biggest fight of his career on a 17-fight win streak, including a 4-0 start in the UFC. Almabayev replaces Brandon Royval, who was forced to withdraw due to injury.
As far as the ongoing debate about officiating, and when, and when not points should be taken, Almabayev says it should depend on the situation.
“The situations could be different,” Almabayev said., There’s a lot of things happening during the fight and I think it’s a case to case basis.”
