For most of the UFC 332 press conference, Deiveson Figueiredo and Payton Talbott were happy to do their fighting with words.
Then they got to the staredown.
UFC 332: Silva v Wang | SUN 5 OCTOBER 11AM AEDT | UFC 332 heads to Salt Lake City where Natalia Silva will go head to head against Wang Cong for the vacant UFC Women’s flyweight title. | Order now on Kayo Sports.
Figueiredo shoved Talbott as the pair came face to face in Salt Lake City, giving an otherwise largely respectful press conference its biggest moment ahead of Sunday’s bantamweight co-main event.
The shove came after Talbott questioned the former champ’s plan to stand and trade with him.
“I think it’s obvious. I think I outstrike him any day,” Talbott said.
“I think it’s crazy that he says he wants to box with me. I think I’m going to turn him into a wrestler.”
Talbott also reckons Figueiredo might be getting a bit ahead of himself. He pointed out that the Brazilian had previously passed on the fight, despite now talking as though the UFC had done him a favour by making it.
“There’s some parts [of what he’s said] that sound delusional to me,” Talbott said.
“He says he’s thankful to the UFC that he’s being handed me, but why didn’t he say yes earlier this year? He had a month and a half to prepare and he said he wasn’t ready.
“Something is not adding up.”
Figueiredo’s explanation was blunt.
“I didn’t want to fight him because I think he’s a guy who doesn’t sell fights,” he said.
“I want to fight people that catapult me up to the top on the way up to a belt.”
That might sting the American more than the shove. The 28-year-old is a heavy favourite against the former two-time champion and is chasing another big-name win after beating Henry Cejudo in his last fight.
There was a little needle in the main event build-up, too.
Wang Cong accused Natalia Silva of doing too little to sell their vacant women’s flyweight title fight, saying she had even written her opponent a note in the hope of spicing up their next faceoff.
Silva was having none of it.
“If she wants to get cute, she can get cute by herself,” Silva said. “I’m not here to play. This is my dream, I’m here to fight.”
Dana White, meanwhile, found himself fielding questions about a fight on the other side of the world.
The UFC boss missed this week’s launch press conference for Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in London, prompting another round of questions about exactly how involved he is in the heavyweight blockbuster.
White said his UFC commitments kept him in the US and insisted his team would have a major role on fight night.
“Not only am I promoting the fight, we’re producing the fight. UFC is going to produce the show,” White said.
“I don’t know how that’s a PR disaster. I’m right.”
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That was his answer to Eddie Hearn, who had called the handling of White’s involvement a public relations disaster.
Fury and Joshua are scheduled to fight in Cardiff on December 11, or December 12 for Australian viewers.