Cejudo to retire after UFC 323: 'Ready to move on'

Former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo is planning for Saturday to be the final fight of his career.

Cejudo, 38, is scheduled to face Payton Talbott in a bantamweight bout on the UFC 323 main card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

"This is it for me," Cejudo said Tuesday, according to MMA Junkie. "Unless (UFC CEO) Dana (White) wants me to - unless there's a really big fight with some other Mexican, then 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. ... There's just a lot of satisfaction in my life. I'm ready to move on, too, man. I have a couple kids that want to play with their dad 24/7."

Cejudo initially retired from MMA after a successful bantamweight title defense in 2020, but he came out of retirement three years later. He's since lost three straight fights against then-champion Aljamain Sterling, Merab Dvalishvili, and Song Yadong.

The Arizona resident's most recent fight against Song at UFC Seattle in February ended in controversial fashion as he received an eye poke in the third round and couldn't continue. The fight then went to the judges' scorecards, with Song winning by technical decision.

Cejudo said he's hoping for a "fair shake" in his final Octagon appearance against Talbott, a 27-year-old prospect who holds a 4-1 record in the promotion.

"Just giving it your all. Giving it everything I have," Cejudo said when asked what he wants from the fight. "It's not even about anything else but giving what I have - what wasn't given to me (in) my last fight. That's all."

Cejudo said the only matchup he would come back for is against former flyweight champion Brandon Moreno, who's scheduled to fight Tatsuro Taira at UFC 323. The two had a falling-out after Cejudo didn't pick Moreno to be on his team on "The Ultimate Fighter 24" in 2016. They've called each other out in recent years.

"It would make perfect sense," Cejudo said, according to MMA Fighting. "I don't want to do it at the White House. Let's do Cinco de Mayo."

Cejudo, an Olympic gold medalist, is one of the most accomplished fighters in UFC history, having won the flyweight title in 2018 and the bantamweight belt in 2019.