Payton Talbott is still coming to terms with suffering his first professional mixed martial arts loss but has a chance to potentially put it behind him this weekend. Talbott entered this calendar year with a 9-0 pro MMA record and by all accounts seemed like one of the big surging prospects within the company. That trajectory took a slight setback this January when Raoni Barcelos bested the 26-year-old by way of unanimous decision in their UFC 311 clash.
Reflecting on that setback against Barcelos a few months ago at the UFC 317 fight week media day as he is just hours out from being given a chance to redirect his competitive trajectory, Talbott said,
“I’m still not over the loss. I don’t think I ever will be over that. Yeah, I took that to heart. That’s like, you know, it’s a loss, but the ref isn’t in there and you’re on the street with somebody like that, and your life could be ended. It’s deep, man. So, I take that to heart, and that’s been my motivating factor every time I’ve been to the gym.”
Payton Talbott and the challenge that awaits him at UFC 317
Payton Talbott is looking to return to the win column during this year’s International Fight Week offering in the main card opener for the promotion’s big annual tentpole event. The bantamweight competitor will get in there with Felipe Lima who boasts a 14-1 professional ledger heading into this Talbott fight. Talbott began his MMA career by putting together a 5-0 record with all of his victories coming by way of emphatic knockout through that stretch while he cut his teeth on circuits like FirePower and Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat.
After then securing a UFC contract on Contender Series, in what is his lone pro MMA fight to go the distance, Talbott returned to his fight ending ways with finishes in his first three UFC outings before that Barcelos setback.
