This week's Fight Study is on Payton Talbott, who is set to face Yanis Ghemmouri at UFC 303.
Name: Payton Talbott
Record: 8-0
Height: 5’10”
Reach: 70.0”
Weight:135
From: Reno, Nevada, USA
Age: 25
Contender Series v Reyes Cortez(7-2)
Talbott fights very methodically in this fight. His shot selection is his best asset, and his striking is very precise. Even though he fights with his hands low and takes damage, he is not afraid of taking damage if he knows he can land his strikes. Talbott is very good at finding his entries into striking out of either stance. You see him enter with hooks to the body out of either stance to enter in to land a combination. He does a backflip to get out of his foot being caught by Cortez, which was pretty cool. I want to call Talbott a rhythm fighter as once he finds his rhythm in a fight, he’s hard to stop as his shot selection is at a high level, and he is always moving forward, which gives the opponent no time to think. Talbott’s kicks are also nice. He ended a couple of combinations with a kick, and he entered with a lead knee a few times, which was good. This fight showed a lot to Talbott’s game. He doesn’t start slow, but he becomes more effective and precise the longer the fight goes as he finds his rhythm which is when he is a hard fighter to beat. His shot selection is fantastic in this fight. He won the fight by decision in a solid performance.
UFC Fight Night 232 v Nick Aguirre(7-2)
Straight away in this fight, Aguirre takes Talbott down, and it’s the first time we really get to see what Talbott can do when taken down, as he usually has shot straight back up. Aguirre tries to take the back of Talbott, but Talbott uses that time to stand up, the fight gets back to the ground, where Aguirre is able to take the back of Talbott on the ground. The first round ends, and it's clear Talbott lost that round, as it was all Aguirre on the ground. Even though Aguirre did not do much damage, he had the positions, and Talbott was unable to do much. Talbott starts round 2 strong with it looking like Aguirre ran out of gas after the first. Talbott is able to control the fight and land damage. Aguirre is able to get a takedown midway through the round, but Talbott is able to reverse Aguirre on the ground to be on top and ends the round, landing strikes to end the round strong. Talbott starts the third round strong, landing great strikes and being able to stuff and reverse a takedown from Aguirre to be on top and land strikes, which opens up the back of Aguirre, and Talbott locks in the Rear Naked Choke and gets the tap. This fight showed that Talbott was able to survive early dominance from Aguirre and able to keep up his pressure throughout the fight and using his shot selection to cause some real damage to Aguirre. He showed great finishing ability with the choke by noticing the back was open and getting the finish within about 10 seconds after taking the back.
UFC on ESPN 53 v Cameron Saaiman
This is Talbott’s biggest test to date. Cameron Saaiman is a very good fighter and someone who can do well in the UFC the more he grows, as he is also a young fighter like Talbott. Talbott starts the fight, landing well with kicks to the body and a really clean 1-2 down the pipe. Talbott wobbles Saaiman with a short counter hook while Saaiman tries to land hooks of his own. Talbott times a knee perfectly while Saaiman shoots for a takedown and hurts him, and goes for the finish. Talbott continues to tee off on Saaiman, but Saaiman does just enough to survive. Talbott is always walking forward, which Saaiman could not deal with correctly, leading to him over-committing or not knowing where to be, which Talbott uses to his advantage. Talbott catches kicks very well and uses them to unbalance his opponents. Talbott starts round two fast, dropping Saaiman with a jab 7 seconds into the round. Talbott throws some massive ground and pound until the ref stops the fight twenty seconds into round two. This was as perfect a fight for Talbott as he will ever get. Everything was going his way, whether it was striking or defending takedowns. He found his rhythm early in the fight, and once he found it, he was very hard to beat. He made a guy like Saaiman, who I think is better than the other opponents he has faced, look like an amateur, which is very high praise.
UFC 303 V Yanis Ghemmouri
His next fight is against Yanis Ghemmouri, who has lost his only UFC appearance against William Gomis by a kick to the body, which was quite low in Gehmmouri’s defence. This feels like an easy fight for Talbott, where he can build on his two wins in the UFC and one win in the Contender Series. Depending on how dominant a performance from Talbott, he may be in line for a step up in competition with a guy just outside the rankings, as Bantamweight is a division full of killers.
Prediction: Talbott RD2 KO