UFC bantamweight contender Payton Talbott revealed that a fight against former champion Sean O’Malley was in the works.
Talbott returns to the Octagon this Saturday at UFC 332 when he battles Deiveson Figueiredo in the co-main event of the evening.
The young star, who is 5-1 in the UFC, is coming off the biggest win of his career when he beat former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo last December at UFC 323.
He has not fought since then, but he says that the UFC was talking to him about a fight against O’Malley at the UFC Freedom 250 event that took place in June.
Ultimately, though, the fight never materialized.
Payton Talbott Reveals Sean O’Malley Fight Was Talked About
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Talbott confirmed that a fight against O’Malley at UFC Freedom 250 was in the works. Ultimately, however, the matchup did not pan out, and O’Malley instead fought Aiemann Zahabi, whom he knocked out spectacularly on the White House lawn.
“I was supposed to fight Sean (O’Malley), then I was supposed to fight him, I was supposed to fight her, all kinds of names. Supposedly when I was supposed to fight them, they all had a broken foot. I was like, ‘Dude, what’s up with everybody’s feet right now?’ It must be something in the water,” Talbott said (via MMAjunkie.com).
“They were like, ‘Oh, so-and-so broke his foot. He really wants to fight you, but his foot is broken. This guy, he was going to fight you, but this morning he broke his foot.’ So, that was pretty much what I was getting. Then it was funny, because the same names that said their feet were broken are suddenly getting booked. … It could be UFC. It could be people scared. I wonder which?”
Payton Talbott Heavily Favored to Beat Deiveson Figueiredo
Although the O’Malley matchup never panned out, Talbott does have a great opportunity to continue to move up the UFC bantamweight rankings when he battles Figueiredo, the former UFC flyweight champion, in the co-main event of UFC 332 this Saturday.
According to the latest betting odds, Talbott is a -700 betting favorite.
Payton Talbott Says Sean O’Malley UFC Fight Was in the Works