Popular Payton Talbott looking to regain form at UFC 317
Payton Talbott came of age on the internet and knew how quickly the accolades directed at him for the spectacular performances early in his career could vanish with one underwhelming effort.
“People are fickle, especially online. Our memories are like goldfish,” the Las Vegas-born fighter said before his UFC 317 pay-per-view bout against bantamweight Felipe Lima on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. “I’ve always said people would eventually hate me.”
It was nothing but love for Talbott the last time he stepped in the cage from fans and the betting market, as he closed at nearly a -1,200 favorite before suffering his first career loss, by unanimous decision, to Raoni Barcelos in January.
All of a sudden, the hype of a 9-0 start to his career with eight finishes turned to cries of Talbott being nothing more than a fraud.
It was a phenomenon he addressed head-on in a video on his popular YouTube channel two months later.
“News flash, I lost,” he said. “I’m a loser. Now everyone knows I’m a big fraud. Huge phony. My whole nine wins prior, 14 if you count amateur, they don’t count. I’m a fraud. Secret’s out guys. Huge fraud. We’ll see what happens after this, if the fraud can win.”
Now Talbott, who added that he appreciates getting to see both extremes of the fan base, will get the chance to bounce back against Lima, another rising star in the bantamweight division who knows something about recovering from a loss. Lima, a -180 favorite over Talbott, dropped his professional debut in 2015 and has now won 14 straight, including two in the UFC.
‘It’s not the build-a-star business’
It’s a surprisingly difficult matchup for the marketable young fighters, who could have been protected with more favorable matchups in an effort to further build their brands.
“It’s fighting,” Talbott said. “It’s not the build-a-star business. I’m not surprised to be fighting him, and if we’re both doing our job well, maybe we’ll meet up again down the road.”
One of the issues, according to Talbott, is that there were few bantamweight volunteers to challenge either him or Lima.
“I don’t think they really wanted to match-make us,” he said. “If I had control over when I fight, where it is, who it is, and could have everything be super certain, that would be a perfect world, but I’m happy to fight this guy. This is a tough fight for me, and that’s what I’m here to do.”
The fight will be Talbott’s fifth in Las Vegas, where he was born in 1998 before spending most of his childhood in Reno. He played football and wrestled at Reno High School before earning a psychology degree with a minor in music from UNR. While he was more passionate about skating and music, Talbott proved to be a natural in the MMA gym.
He finished all five of his amateur opponents and knocked out his first five professional opponents to get a shot on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023, earning a contract with a unanimous decision victory.
Quick rise
Talbott stormed through his first three official UFC opponents, culminating with a spectacular 19-second knockout of Yanis Ghemmouri in his first fight at T-Mobile Arena in June 2024.
That had Talbott ticketed for stardom until the loss to Barcelos in January. He said the online criticism died down after a few weeks, but the mental pain hasn’t subsided.
“I’m still not over it, and I don’t think I ever will be,” Talbott said. “I take it to heart, and it’s been my motivating factor every time I go to the gym.”
His public profile hasn’t taken a hit. Actually, it has grown significantly since he and R&B superstar Frank Ocean posted photos of each other on their Instagram stories on Valentine’s Day. The typically reclusive Ocean also attended Talbott’s last fight.
“You know when you go to a zoo and you see a polar bear inside of a cage?” Talbott said of the increased attention. “Probably how the polar bear feels is how I feel, like with everybody staring at you.”
All eyes will be on whether he can rebound from his first defeat Saturday in the first fight on a 7 p.m. pay-per-view card headlined by a bout between Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.