Henry Cejudo is ready to hang up his gloves for the final time.
The former two-division champion, who actually walked away from the sport for three years just after capturing the UFC bantamweight title before returning in 2023, has decided that his upcoming fight on Saturday is his final walk to the octagon. Cejudo faces bantamweight prospect Payton Talbott on the main card, and he plans to retire afterwards no matter the result.
“This is it for me,” Cejudo told reporters including MMA Fighting on Tuesday night. “Unless there’s some really big fight with some other Mexican, I’d be willing to do it but 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 onto. I have a couple of kids that want to play with their dad 24/7.”
Cejudo admitted that a big part of even returning for his fight at UFC 323 came down to the disappointment that surrounded his previous performance when he fell to Song Yadong by technical decision back in February.
On that night, Cejudo suffered a gruesome eye poke that didn’t allow him to continue and he really doesn’t want that memory to serve as the final appearance of his career.
“Just giving it your all,” Cejudo said about what he wants out of his fight at UFC 323. “Giving it everything I have. It’s not even about anything else, just giving what I have, what wasn’t given to me my last fight. That’s all. A fair shake, despite whatever the outcome could come.”
Add to that, Cejudo admits he has a lot of respect for Talbott as an opponent after they actually met and worked together briefly at his home gym in Arizona.
“Payton is good, he’s a humble dude,” Cejudo said. “He came out to pretty much be mentored by me for a few days, coming out to Arizona, so that says a lot about him. I welcomed him to my house.
“This is ironic, this is right before I fought Merab [Dvalishvili] so he could even tell you that I was hurt that whole fight camp. He came out I think we were getting close [to the fight], and he’s like ‘what’s wrong?’ My groin’s torn. He said ‘why are you taking the fight?’ Because those are the risks you take. Because that was guaranteeing me a title shot. We had a chance to spend some time together. No ill will towards him but we are going to fight on Saturday night.”
Between his UFC career and winning an Olympic gold medal in wrestling, Cejudo is already one of the most accomplished athletes to ever compete in combat sports.
That’s why returning for one last fight at UFC 323 is more about getting a satisfying conclusion that doesn’t involve a foul ending his night than desperately seeking another win.
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