Payton Talbott is one of the most talented up-and-coming mixed martial artists currently signed with the UFC, and he will compete on Saturday in one of UFC 303’s top prelim fights.
However, Talbott didn’t make many friends with a recent short interview posted by ESPN MMA’s X account.
Talbott was asked to briefly describe most of the top fighters in the bantamweight division. In the interview, Talbott was comical but perhaps a little insulting to legends like Jose Aldo.
Here is a look at the clip.
Talbott appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour and provided some context to the names he called the other bantamweights.
The polarizing young fighter softened the blows but ultimately said, “you’re doing this game right if you’re making enemies.”
The fact that ESPN MMA and Nina Drama are interviewing Talbott during Fight Week for UFC 303 tells you a bit about how highly touted the 25-year-old from Reno, Nevada, is across the sport.
Talbott, who is scheduled to face France’s Yanis Ghemmouri on Saturday’s prelims, has compiled an 8-0 record as a professional. That run includes a 3-0 mark with the UFC. Talbott earned a contract with the UFC on Dana White’s Contender Series when he scored a unanimous decision win over Reyes Cortez in August 2023.
He followed that up with a third-round submission win over Nick Aguirre in November 2023. Most recently, Talbott put on a sparkling performance as he handed South Africa’s Cameron Saaiman his second loss as a professional in March.
Talbott’s approach to the fight game is truly unique. He boldly shared a video, translated into French for Ghemmouri’s benefit, in which he detailed his own weaknesses, essentially providing his opponent with a blueprint for defeating him.
Helwani asked why he would provide an opponent with a game plan ahead of a fight. Talbott said, “Just a way for me to have fun, and I want him to do as well as he possibly can against me. I want to fight the best version of him and still prevail. That’s just me saying, ‘Hey dude, you wanna beat me, this is how you do it, and I hope you try as hard as you can.’
Talbott has positioned himself as a workhorse and is in line for a relatively quick ascension into the bantamweight Top 15. A win on Saturday–especially a finish following some of the attention he has drummed up–should shine an even brighter light on him.
If Talbott wins, don’t sleep on a fight with UFC legend Dominick Cruz to potentially usher the former into the rankings. We might be looking at the next needle-mover in MMA.
