UFC 332: Payton Talbott eyes busy 2027 after Sean O'Malley, Cory Sandhagen fights failed to materialize — SkimNews
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- Payton Talbott faces former two-time flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 332 in Salt Lake City on Saturday, his first fight since beating former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo in December.
- Talbott told CBS Sports that potential fights with Sean O'Malley and Cory Sandhagen slipped through earlier in 2026 — Sandhagen didn't happen due to "logistics with the card" — and he wants a ranked opponent next to avoid another long break.
- Talbott, 28, is already one of UFC's most popular young fighters despite being ranked outside the bantamweight Top 10, and matchmakers are treating him as a bigger attraction than the main event title fight between Natalia Silva and Wang Cong.
- Talbott retired Cejudo in December, taking down the Olympic wrestler three times in a win that followed his lone professional loss — a January 2025 upset at the hands of veteran Raoni Barcelos, who entered as a huge underdog.
- Barcelos launched a late-career run after that upset, headlining a UFC Fight Night, but collapsed in the fifth round of a fight he was winning against Raul Rosas Jr. on Sept. 26 at the Meta APEX and was stretchered out.
- Talbott connected his own months-long bout with vertigo to Barcelos' collapse, telling CBS Sports the camera angle was "very similar" to when his head hit the cage in their 2025 fight.
Why it matters: Talbott ranks outside the bantamweight Top 10 yet draws bigger billing than a title fight on the same card; beating a second former champion in Figueiredo would give him the résumé leverage to demand ranked opponents in 2027 instead of the waiting game that defined his 2026.
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