UFC 323 goes down in December in Las Vegas and this afternoon, Dana White took to social media to announce the card. One of the matchups that was announced by White is an intriguing matchup in the bantamweight division between former two-division champ Henry Cejudo (16-5) and top prospect Payton Talbott (10-1).
Can’t lie, I’m a little surprised to see this fight being made. While Talbott is incredibly talented, he’s still not ranked and didn’t appear to be close to the bantamweight rankings and while Henry Cejudo has lost three in a row, he’s still ranked 10th at 135 pounds.
Talbott did have a ton of hype behind him entering this year when he was a perfect 9-0 overall and he was 3-0 with three finishes in the UFC coming off The Contender Series. However, he was incredibly humbled by Raoni Barcelos back in January losing a lopsided decision. He showed dramatic improvement back in June when he returned with a big win over Felipe Lima.
For Henry Cejudo, this is truly a do-or-die fight for him. If he loses this one, it’s time to hang up the gloves for good. Cejudo retired from the UFC back in 2020 after defending his bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz. The retirement was mainly driven by finances and Cejudo ultimately sat out for three years.
He returned in 2023 and lost an extremely close decision to Aljamain Sterling in a bantamweight title fight. Following that loss, he lost to current champion Merab Dvalishvili. Back in February, he headlined a Fight Night against Song Yadong and the fight ended after an accidental eye poke. The fight went to a technical decision that Song won handing Cejudo his third straight loss.
More about: MMA
