Payton Talbott beat one former UFC champion in his last fight. This weekend, he gets a crack at another.
The 28-year-old American defeated Henry Cejudo in December and now faces Deiveson Figueiredo in the co-main event of UFC 332 in Salt Lake City.
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Keep winning these fights and Talbott won’t be called a prospect for much longer.
There was a bit of edge to the matchup at Friday morning’s press conference. Talbott said he could outstrike Figueiredo and predicted he would “turn him into a wrestler”.
Figueiredo kept his cool on stage, but when the pair came face to face afterwards, the former champ shoved Talbott.
So is the UFC deliberately sending the old guard Talbott’s way?
“Yeah, I mean, it’s only two so far,” Talbott told Fox Sports Australia.
“But yeah, it’s kind of looking that way. But I think it was just the matchup I could get. It had been so long, I was down to fight whoever.
“I think usually the older guys just give less f***s, so they’re just down to fight whoever.”
Talbott has not fought since his win over Cejudo at UFC 323. It was the biggest victory of his career, taking his pro record to 11-1 and putting the former two-division champion on his résumé.
It could have been an even bigger name across from him. Talbott revealed there were talks about a fight with UFC superstar Sean O’Malley, though he has no idea why it didn’t happen.
“There wasn’t a contract or anything, but it was in talks,” he said.
“I don’t know if he said no. I don’t know if his team said no. I don’t know if the UFC was like, ‘That’s not a good idea’, but it was in talks on my side.”
Instead, he gets Figueiredo. The bookies have Talbott as a heavy favourite, but he isn’t treating the former champ like an easy way up the rankings.
“He’s definitely good on the ground, and that’s one of his strong suits,” Talbott said. “But he’s also durable. I feel like he’s never really been knocked out before. So I’d say durability and experience.”
Asked what fans would see from him this weekend, Talbott didn’t promise some new weapon. He said his focus had been on stripping away the parts of his game he didn’t need.
“Hopefully just a more refined fighter. I don’t think you’ll see anything new in there,” he said.
“I feel like I’ve just shaved off the unnecessary stuff in my game more and more, so hopefully you’ll just see a high pace and a lot of colliding.”
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That’s a fairly straightforward approach to fighting from a bloke whose life outside the cage is anything but.
Talbott spends his spare time climbing, surfing and chasing whatever adventure grabs his interest.
He also has a psychology degree, which he says has helped him understand his own mind more than his opponents’ – particularly how he learns and responds to feedback.
And despite the training and everything else he gets up to, he reckons fighters have more free time than people think.
“Oh man, there’s endless time. I mean, I don’t have a job. I just have to fight,” he said.
“As long as I put my two hours in during the day, I can do whatever else. I feel like fighters have a lot of time. Most of the time, people just overtrain, and I think some people have a hard time sitting with that much time.”
In the cage this weekend, though, Talbott expects to have his hands full. He believes Figueiredo is ready for a drawn-out fight, and he’s preparing for the same.
“It seems like he’s prepared for a war, and he’s durable,” Talbott said. “So I think it’ll go later into the rounds for sure.”
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An Aussie appearance might take a little more convincing. Told about the surfing and outdoors lifestyle on offer Down Under, Talbott had one big immediate concern.
“Those spiders – they’re really big,” he said. “All those insects – they’re crazy. I don’t know if I’d really enjoy that.
“Maybe Sydney, like a big city where you don’t have to worry about it as much. But it probably is still a thing regardless, huh? I don’t know how you guys do it.”