Payton Talbott shares ‘career changing advice’ UFC 323 opponent Henry Cejudo gave him months before upcoming clash

Rising UFC bantamweight contender Payton Talbott received career-altering advice from a surprising source, Henry Cejudo, before their fight.

Payton Talbott will be former UFC champion Henry Cejudo’s final career opponent this Saturday at UFC 323. Cejudo has said that UFC 323 will be his final appearance in the Octagon as he prepares to put his decorated combat sports career to a dramatic end.

Cejudo, who won UFC titles at flyweight and bantamweight earlier in his career, is looking to secure one final memorable moment in the cage before dropping the gloves. He’s searching for his first victory since ending his multi-year retirement at UFC 288.

Months before Talbott and Cejudo were booked to fight each other, Cejudo briefly mentored Talbott and gave him some outstanding advice about how to preserve his life and career.

Payton Talbott looks back on advice Henry Cejudo gave him before UFC 323

In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Talbott shared his longtime friendship with his upcoming rival.

“He gave me a lot of career-changing advice, tried to mentor me quite a bit because he was supposed to retire after [the Merab Dvalishvili fight],” Talbott said. “So we knew we weren’t going to fight each other, and here we are!

“He gave me a lot of [advice]. Without getting too specific, how to structure your camp to mimic competition, in terms of mentality and what the body can take. Just how important it is to have security outside of fighting; which I always knew, but he always had his whole life based around long-term security, financial security. He seemed to be very, very adamant about it.

“It takes somebody telling you that and seeing it, to really know,” Talbott continued. “And now I’m in a position where he was trying to do right by me, and he was right!”

Cejudo’s most recent victory came against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249. Meanwhile, Talbott is looking to continue his rise to stardom after defeating Felipe Lima at UFC 317.