UFC 323 storylines: Likely Henry Cejudo’s final fight before retirement

Henry Cejudo said before the weekend that his UFC 323 main card fight with Payton Talbott will likely be the last fight of his mixed martial arts career.

“This is it for me,” Cejudo told reporters in Las Vegas at the start of fight week. “Unless (Dana White) gives me a big fight with some other Mexican, then I'd be ready to do it. Other than that, I think I've done everything at the highest level since I was 11. Lost the weight at the damn time, and there's just a lot of satisfaction in my life. I'm ready to move on, too. I've got a couple kids who want to play with their dad 24/7.”

The former flyweight and bantamweight champion is one of the most accomplished combat sports athletes of his generation. Cejudo won an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling in 2008 and then began training in MMA in 2013. He became the first Olympic champion to also win a UFC title when he defeated longtime 125-pound champion Demetrious Johnson in 2018. Then in 2019, after defending his flyweight title against TJ Dillashaw, Cejudo moved up to 135 pounds that year to become the bantamweight champion.

Cejudo previously retired in 2020 after defending his bantamweight title against former champion Dominick Cruz in May 2020, but eventually returned to the sport three years later. However, since he left for first place, he has never raised his hand.

Now, just two months shy of his 39th birthday, Cejudo enters his farewell fight on a three-fight losing streak and hopes to go out on a winning note and leave without a bitter taste in his mouth.

Cejudo lost a split decision in his 2023 comeback to then-titleholder Aljamain Sterling before being outpointed by defending champion Merab Dvalishvili in his only 2024 appearance. His last outing ended in unfortunate circumstances earlier this year when he lost by technical decision to Song Yadong in February after Cejudo was hit in the eye and unable to continue. This five-round fight was called off after just three rounds due to injury.

The five-foot-four California native will have significant height and be at a disadvantage to the five-foot-four Talbott and is also a significant underdog in the betting, but Cejudo does have a significant advantage in both experience and strength of schedule.

Cejudo is one of 11 dual-weight champions in UFC history, likely a future Hall of Famer, and hanging up the gloves after defeating a rising star like Talbott would be a positive way to end his impressive fighting career.

Here's what else is happening on the UFC 323 undercard:

New contenders: Before a pair of championship bouts get underway at UFC 323 this weekend, fight fans will have their fill of rising stars as each of the three new contenders takes on a former UFC champion on the main card.

As mentioned above, Talbott will face Cejudo in a showdown at 135 pounds. The highly touted rookie from Nevada has gained momentum since earning a UFC contract in 2023 on Dana White's Contender Series and defeating his first three opponents in the UFC. He suffered his first setback in January, losing a decision to wily veteran Raoni Barcelos, but bounced back with an impressive decision win over Felipe Lima in June that earned him this fight with Cejudo.

“Henry needs to go out there and win, and now I have to stand in the way of that,” Talbott said Wednesday at UFC 323 media day when asked about being Cejudo's final opponent.

Two-time flyweight champion Brandon Moreno will look to extend his current winning streak to three when he faces highly touted 25-year-old contender Tatsuro Taira. This will be Moreno's first scheduled three-round fight in more than five years. He competed in six straight title fights from late 2020 to mid-2023 and headlined Fight Night cards in each of his last three appearances.

Meanwhile, Tyra is 16-1 in MMA and his only loss was a split decision loss to Brandon Royval 13 months ago. Tyra is 25 years old, and like 24-year-old flyweight title challenger Joshua Wang, who faces Alexander Pantoja in the co-main event, the rising star from Japan represents the future of the 125-pound division. A win over Moreno would put him closer to a shot at gold, and if Tyra can become the first fighter to defeat Moreno, a title shot could happen as early as 2026.

At 205 pounds, Bogdan Guskov will look for his fifth straight stoppage win when he faces former light heavyweight titleholder Jan Blachowicz. Guskov, 33, from Uzbekistan, has won his last eight fights since 2021 and will be in the top 10 in the division if he can score the biggest win of his career. Blachowicz is 42 years old and is winless in his last three fights: a draw with Magomed Ankalaev in 2022, a split decision loss to Alex Pereira in 2023 and a close decision to Carlos Ulberg in March of this year. Blachowicz's last win that wasn't due to injury was his 2021 title defense against Israel Adesanya.

The preliminary card sees Maisie Barber return for the first time in a long time as she looks to remind people why she is being viewed as a future title contender. Barber, 27, is on a six-fight winning streak but has not fought since March 2024. Unspecified long-term health problems prevented her from taking the field. She was scheduled to headline a Fight Night event against Erin Blanchfield in late May, but pulled out minutes before she was due to step into the cage due to a medical emergency. Barber is a No. 5 ranked contender at 125 pounds and could move a few steps closer to a women's flyweight title shot with a strong performance against Karine Silva on Saturday.

Lightweight jockey for position: The preliminaries will feature four friendly matches at 155 pounds, including an exhibition bout between Grant Dawson and Manuel Torres. Dawson is the No. 13 lightweight contender, with Torres hoping to take his spot in the rankings. Torres is 4-1 in the UFC with four stoppage victories, while Grant is 11-1-1 since debuting in 2019.

The first of four lightweight bouts is Edson Barboza vs. Jalin Turner. Barboza, 39, a 15-year UFC veteran, is competing in his 32nd UFC fight and is looking to go beyond two fights.

Turner, 30, has lost four of his last five fights and effectively announced his retirement in March after a submission loss to Ignacio Bahamondes. Having changed his mind about retiring from his career, Turner returns to add another spectacular finale to his resume. Turner is 14-9 in MMA, with all 14 wins coming by either knockout/TKO or submission. Barboza has finished the fight six times in his UFC career, but only once in the last six years.

One fight that is unlikely to require a cageside judge is Terrence McKinney vs. Chris Duncan. Twenty of McKinney's 24 professional fights ended in the first round and none of them went the distance, while Duncan made only four decisions in his 16-fight career.

Nazim Sadikhov will retire from fighting in June after knocking out Nicholas Motta. He'll look to finish the year strong by facing another striker in Frenchman Fares Ziam, who has won five in a row and seven of his eight UFC appearances. The winner of this fight could be one of the lightweights to watch in 2026.