Henry Cejudo is ready for the curtain to fall on his illustrious career this Saturday, regardless of the outcome of his fight against Payton Talbott.
Cejudo (16-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) is set to make the walk to the Octagon for the final time when he faces Talbott (10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) at UFC 323 this weekend. Currently riding a three-fight skid, “Triple C” is still searching for his first victory since coming out of retirement in mid-2023. Before that, the former Olympic wrestling gold medalist stepped away from the sport following his bantamweight title defense over Dominick Cruz in 2020.
"This is it for me, guys," Cejudo told reporters during a media scrum ahead of this weekend’s fight. "This is it for me, unless Dana (White) gets me a big fight with some other Mexican, then I'd be willing to do it. Other than that, I think I've done everything at the highest level since I was 11 years old. From cutting weight at that damn time, and there's just a lot of satisfaction in my life. I'm ready to move on too. I have a couple kids that want to play with their Dad 24/7."
Since returning in 2023, Cejudo has lost to both former 135-pound champion Aljamain Sterling and current titleholder Merab Dvalishvili. His most recent defeat, a technical decision loss to Yadong Song in February after suffering an eye poke, still bothers the former two-division champion. He’s hoping to end things on a brighter note this Saturday.
"It's not about anything else but giving what I have, and what wasn't given to me in my last fight," Cejudo said. "That's all. Fair shake. You know, despite whatever the outcome could come. Payton is good. Payton is a humble dude. He came out to be mentored by me for a couple of days, coming out to Arizona. So, that says a lot about him."
