Ex-champ views UFC 332 as defining moment for Payton Talbott

Henry Cejudo heaped praise on Payton Talbott ahead of UFC 332.

Talbott (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) retired Cejudo in an entertaining scrap at UFC 323. He now faces another former champion in Deiveson Figueiredo (25-7-1 MMA, 14-7-1 UFC) in Saturday's co-main event (Paramount+) at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

Cejudo gave insight into the matchup after going three rounds with Talbott.

"When I see this fight, it's all about adjustment and who's going to have to adjust," Cejudo said on his "Pound 4 Pound" podcast with Kamaru Usman. "Payton Talbott, my last fight, he beat the brakes off of me. That dude could crack. Deiveson, at his age, he has to make those adjustments. The biggest thing maybe Deiveson will have to do is kick that lead leg of Payton – a little bit of what I did – and try not to catch those straight punches, because Payton cracks. He cracked me hard. I was dizzy from the first punch he threw. It was straight. It hit me right on the button, but I never really tried to show that.

"Deiveson is going to have to use his kicks, and then kick and wrestle. Obviously for Payton, Payton is just going to have to be him: keep it on his feet. He's got the longer length, and he can go both right hand and left hand. I think the favorite in this matchup is Payton. He's the younger fighter, he's the more sharper fighter with his hands. He's got the length and then the distance recognition. I'm excited to see Payton fight to see how much better he's gotten since me and him fought. If he's been able to really learn how to fight backwards, use his feints a little bit more, and then more of those lateral movements, I think Payton is top five in the world."

Cejudo is very high on Talbott, and wants to see him matched up against the upper echelon of bantamweight if he can get past Figueiredo.

"He needs to fight (Marlon) 'Chito' Vera next with a victory over Deiveson," Cejudo said. "Sean O'Methley (O'Malley) denied that fight with him. Payton Talbott would beat the brakes off of him. Cory Sandhagen – I think all of these matchups are really good for Payton. He beats up Aiemann (Zahabi). He beats up everybody, in my opinion. I won't even mind at this point, depending on how he looks with Deiveson: Give him Cory Sandhagen."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ex-champ views UFC 332 as defining moment for Payton Talbott