Regional MMA, particularly in this era of streaming media and UFC Fight Pass, plays more important of a role in the development of a prospect now than it ever has before. To that extent, Fight Pass also makes it exponentially easier for major promotions, such as the UFC, to find out who’s hot and who’s not in the cage.
In less than a full year’s time, it appears that the UFC has its next big superstar. Let’s flashback to March of 2023 for a moment.
At that point, Payton Talbott (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) was defending the A1 Combat Bantamweight Championship in the A1 Combat 9 main event. Cristhian Rivas (10-4-1 MMA, 1-2 A1 Combat) was the adversary that night. Despite going to the third round of the contest, Talbott disposed of Rivas with a third-round knockout.
Contender Series Comes Calling After Successful Defense of Title in A1 Combat
Make no mistake: Payton Talbott proved impressive on that March night. As someone who watches regional MMA quite regularly to see who could be the next champion in a major promotion, this thought crossed my mind that weekend:
“Talbott is a beast. He should get called up to the UFC in short order.”
After his defense of the belt in Urijah Faber’s promotion, Talbott ran his undefeated professional MMA record to 4-0. He hadn’t lost in his amateur MMA career, either. His undefeated mark caught the eye of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Talbott was booked to appear on the opening show of last season on Aug. 8, drawing Reyes Cortez (7-3 MMA, 0-2 Contender Series), also an alum of the LFA, in 2019. For the first time in Talbott’s career, professional or amateur, he scored a unanimous decision victory after three rounds last summer.
Talbott Proves Impressive on Contender Series
The method of victory was immaterial. By night’s end, UFC CEO Dana White awarded the now-former A1 Combat Bantamweight Champion a contract in the sport’s top promotion due to his varied striking prowess, takedown defense, and just making life miserable for Cortez in the process, bloodying his opponent in the process.
This was a taste of what was to come for Payton Talbott in the UFC.
“This kid is an absolute predator,” Dana White said in his contract evaluations with Laura Sanko. “He keeps moving forward. He seems unfazed by everything that happens, he plays the mental game. He keeps talking to his opponent, which, by the way, Reyes Cortez Jr. is as tough as they come, tough as nails. Payton hit him with everything tonight. Big shots, combinations, leg kicks, head kicks, you name it.”
Hype Train Rolling
He hasn’t stopped since. In the seven months that Payton Talbott has been in the UFC, he’s recorded three consecutive wins, all by way of stoppage. Perhaps even more impressive about his hot start in the promotion is this statistic:
None of them have gone past one minute into a round during the fight. Saturday night was his third, as well as his highest-profile, fight in the UFC, appearing on the late prelims of UFC 303 against Yanis Ghemmouri (12-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) on ESPN.
To borrow an adage from the football field, “Speed kills.” This was the quickest win by stoppage that Payton Talbott has had thus far in the UFC, as well as the fastest stoppage win he’s recorded in his professional MMA career, needing just 19 blistering seconds to finish Ghemmouri with ground and pound shots. In so doing, he pocketed $50,000 (USD) for the Performance of the Night Award after the show.
Anybody watching the official livestream of the UFC 303 late prelims probably needed to press the 10-second rewind button to watch it again. By the way, for those keeping score at home, the second-quickest win by stoppage that Payton Talbott recorded occurred in May of 2022, when he finished Hector Fajardo 12 seconds into round two.
The Sky is the Limit for Payton Talbott
Although Talbott is only three fights into his UFC tenure, it’s become abundantly clear that his star is quickly becoming the brightest in the 135-lb. division. This is a man who began fighting in the amateur ranks a little more than six years ago and he hasn’t tasted defeat a single time.
He handled the pressure of being booked to appear during one of the promotion’s biggest annual events and came away victorious. Talbott has new fans today as a result of his win on Saturday night.
Within the next couple of years, barring any setbacks, Talbott can easily find himself in the conversation for the UFC Bantamweight Championship. His will be an interesting story to watch play out going forward, that’s for certain.
Final Thoughts
If you weren’t sold on Payton Talbott before UFC 303 this past weekend, you should be now. He’s got all the tools he needs to thrive in the UFC.
Big night, big bonuses 💰💰💰💰
These 4 are leaving #UFC303 with the POTN bonuses!
[ B2YB @PrimeHydrate ] pic.twitter.com/cvNaWrTUqB
— UFC (@ufc) June 30, 2024
