Athletes
Payton Talbott Keeps Taking Chances
Bantamweight Prospect Discusses Lessons Learned, Facing Henry Cejudo At UFC 323
Few competitors entered this year with more buzz and greater expectations being placed on their shoulders than Payton Talbott, the bantamweight prospect who is heading into 2025 with a perfect 9-0 record, consecutive highlight reel finishes, and most everyone projecting big things for him, both this year and long term.
And then he faltered. More correctly, he ran into a talented Brazilian veteran in Raoni Barcelos, who bounced the Dana White’s Contender Series grad from the ranks of the unbeaten at UFC 311. That setback prompted some to recalibrate their projections for Talbott, who went into the bout eagerly anticipating a challenging night at the office, and they did so again after the Reno Academy of Combat representative got things moving in the right direction again with a unanimous decision victory over fellow prospect Felipe Lima at UFC 317 in June.
Saturday's Full Fight Card Preview
Now, he’s set to make his third appearance of the year, squaring off with Henry Cejudo this weekend at UFC 323 in the former two-weight world champion’s combat sports swan song, with a chance to close out the year further up the rankings than most likely anticipated in January when he was an undefeated star on the rise.
“I just think that it taught me that it’s always good to take chances,” Talbott said, reflecting on the ebb and flow of things so far in 2025 and the opportunity to still wrap up the year with a number next to his name. “Nobody ever does anything great by playing it safe; I’ve always had that mindset.
“I’d still take the Barcelos fight to this day because I’m not really here to make safe choices. I think taking chances, betting on yourself, and doubling down on yourself is what pays off in the end.”
Another main card checking in 👊@HenryCejudo | @PaytonTalbott | #UFC323 pic.twitter.com/SKiMC9yFpl
— UFC (@ufc) December 3, 2025
This weekend’s matchup with Cejudo is proof of that statement.
Going from suffering your first loss to stepping in with an ascending talent like Lima was a definite roll of the dice for Talbott, as the Brazilian entered on a 14-fight winning streak, having opened his UFC tenure with a short-notice submission win over Muhammad Naimov before returning to bantamweight and out-dueling Miles Johns in his sophomore showing.
Order UFC 323: Dvalishvili vs Yan 2
After dropping the first round, Talbott drew level in the second, and with the outcome hanging in the balance, he cranked up the output, pressure, and punishment in the third, turning the close battle into a clear return to the win column.
“I’ve learned that it is very hard to juggle fighting in the UFC with other things in life, and that you’ve got to really make that a priority if that’s what you’re doing,” began Talbott when asked about the lessons learned from his encounters with Barcelos and Lima, which were the type of competitive scraps he’d long wanted to experience in order to see what they revealed to him about himself. “(I also learned that) when all odds are stacked against me, and I’m in a rough spot, I still will continue to fight and not give up.
“I was in some pretty bad positions against Raoni, my health was pretty compromised towards the end of the fight, and I still was just clawing at him, so that taught me a lot about myself.”
Though he’s pulled back on the amount of commissioned work he’s doing and maybe dialed back on some of the additional side gigs he’s taking on, one thing Talbott has not forgone is engaging in the things that satisfy his appetite for adrenaline and more dangerous experiences.
In one collection of images and videos posted to his Instagram account with the simple caption “acrophobia,” Talbott and his friends are shown climbing up and swinging off massive rock faces in Yosemite. Another from the summer opens with the bantamweight perched high up the ladder and scaffolding of a radio tower he likes to climb.
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“It’s just fun, honestly, and all my friends were doing it too; a lot of peer pressure,” he deadpanned when asked about the draw or motivation to chase those rushes. “I think it’s just that you don’t get to do that any other time, so if I were to go to bed that night and not have done that, I’d be like, ‘Dang, I should have just gotten on that swing.’
“They just let me be me at this point,” added Talbott when asked if he gets any pushback from coaches or others in his circle when it comes to his adventuring, whether solo or with his friends. “I’m so used to it too that I don’t even think like, ‘I need to do this for the scary release’ —I just see it, and it’s like, ‘Let’s get on that! Let’s do that; it’s gonna be fun.’
“I don’t even consider it, honestly.”
One thing he has considered, however, is the impact a victory over Cejudo this weekend could have on his career.
The two men have a bit of a relationship, as Talbott ventured to Arizona to train with the former flyweight and bantamweight titleholder a couple of years back. Now, they’ll share the Octagon together in what is going to be the final bout of Cejudo’s unmatched combat sports career.
“I don’t think either of us saw it coming, but I think it’s an honor, and I think I’m in a really good spot to be able to do this,” Talbott said of facing Cejudo, who enters on a three-fight skid. “I’m just appreciative of the opportunity.
“I think it’s gonna be huge,” he added regarding the magnitude of a win on Saturday. “I think there really is nobody else that has done it like him, other than maybe DC (Daniel Cormier), but I think it’s gonna be huge because he’s gonna be a Hall of Famer, he’s a huge name, and he just has a lifetime of knowledge in terms of picking apart his opponents.
“He’s a master at game planning, so if I can rise to the occasion and do this, I think it speaks volumes to my potential because I’m not even in my prime yet.”
UFC 323: Dvalishvili vs Yan 2 took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 6, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!