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Brett Okamoto
LAS VEGAS — Henry Cejudo, one of the most decorated athletes in combat sports history, retired from MMA for the second time Saturday. This time, it’s likely to be permanent.
Cejudo (16-6) announced his retirement after a unanimous decision loss to Payton Talbott (11-1) at UFC 323 at T-Mobile Arena. All three judges scored it 30-27 for Talbott.
Cejudo, 38, said before the bout that this would be his last fight, and he made good on that promise. Cejudo, a former two-weight champion, retired from MMA as the bantamweight champion in 2020 but returned three years later. He went 0-4 in four appearances since his return.
“Payton is the future, man,” Cejudo said. “I was saying to him after the fight, come over and let’s keep training. I want to keep mentoring him. But f—, this is the end [for me].”
Although Cejudo lost, he gave a spirited effort against Talbott, a highly touted 27-year-old prospect. Talbott bloodied Cejudo’s face in the second round, pummeled him with shots to the body and even took down Cejudo, a world-class wrestler, multiple times. Despite the damage, Cejudo fought back and drew a positive response from the crowd for it.
Cejudo’s longtime coach, Santino Defranco of Fight Ready MMA, also announced his retirement from coaching MMA.
A former Olympic gold medalist in wrestling, Cejudo won the UFC flyweight championship in 2018 by defeating all-time great Demetrious Johnson by split decision. Cejudo moved up to bantamweight and won the vacant belt in 2018 with a TKO finish over Marlon Moraes. Cejudo defended the belt once against another all-time great, Dominick Cruz, before walking away from the Octagon for the first time in 2020.