Former flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo is set to retire for the second, and presumably final, time.
Cejudo, an Olympic gold medalist, faces Payton Talbott at UFC 323 in Las Vegas this weekend. The card is the final Pay-Per-View of the ESPN era (there’s one more Fight Night even the wrap up that partnership), and will also host Cejudo’s retirement fight, he confirmed on Tuesday.
“This is it for me, guys,” Cejudo stated during a media scrum (h/t MMA Junkie) ahead of the event. “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.”
It will be the second retirement for Cejudo, who walked away from the sport in his prime in 2020 after defending his bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 that May. That victory capped off a six-fight win streak that saw Henry Cejudo dethrone flyweight great Demetrious Johnson to capture the UFC’s 125lb title, then defend it against bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw.
A second fight against bantamweight champ Dillashaw was booked in a rare instance of creative matchmaking in the UFC, only for Dillashaw to fail a drug test and vacate his title.
Cejudo instead won his second belt by defeating Marlon Moraes for the vacant strap, then defended it against Cruz.
Since his return from retirement in 2023, Cejudo has gone 0-3, struggling to return to championship form. All three of those losses have come via decision.
