Las Vegas native Payton Talbott soars as fastest-rising star at UFC 303

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, June 28, 2024 | 2 a.m.

Payton Talbott was eating at a sushi restaurant while a senior at Reno High School in the fall of 2016 when he caught a glimpse of a commercial that he couldn’t look away from.  

The ad was promoting the upcoming UFC 205 pay-per-view, and more specifically, a main event starring Conor McGregor’s attempt to become a two-division champion in a bout against then-lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez.

McGregor’s highlight reel mesmerized Talbott.  

“I was amazed that was actually allowed and I was like, ‘I want to give that a shot,’ after seeing how free Conor looked,” Talbott reflected earlier this week. “I Googled the nearest MMA gym after my wrestling season ended my senior year and popped into the first place.”

That was the Reno Academy of Combat — and he’s since never left.

The 25-year-old Talbott, who was born in Las Vegas but settled in Northern Nevada as a child, will be fighting out of the same gym Saturday on the ESPN-televised preliminary card of UFC 303 when he takes on 29-year-old Yanis Ghemmouri.

It initially set up as a full-circle moment for one of the UFC’s brightest bantamweight prospects with McGregor slotted to headline the card in a bout against Michael Chandler. But McGregor pulled out of the fight with a toe injury, with a light heavyweight title fight coming together as the main-event replacement.

“I was bummed (about McGregor) for sure,” Talbott said. “The job is always the same. I love going out there and fighting but it would have been really cool to be a piece of that part in history.”  

Talbott has already made some UFC history himself. He earned a contract to the promotion through Dana White’s Contender Series when he set records with 145 significant strikes landed and 16 stuffed takedowns against Reyes Cortez last August.

His first two official performances as a rostered fighter of the promotion were even more spectacular. First, he choked out Nick Aguirre in the third of a UFC Fight Night card last November.

Then, in March, he dismantled fellow decorated prospect Cameron Saaiman with a second-round knockout on an ESPN-televised card. Talbott’s onslaught included a knee that made such a vicious cracking noise on Saaiman’s chin that it went viral in mixed martial arts circles.

White awarded Talbott a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus and sought the young fighter out to tell him how he impressed he was with the victory.

“It did change my life in a way, not profoundly or in any financial way,” Talbott said of the win over Saaiman. “No matter how much money I have, I think I’ll always live my life in a certain way — pretty uniquely. But it did change a lot of things like how people treat me in public, what they say when they see me out.”

Many have compared Talbott’s smooth-moving, electric-striking style to the one employed by the current champion at his weight class, Sean O’Malley.  

Talbott hopes to one day fight O’Malley, and if the former reaches his potential the way the latter has, it’s easy to envision the pairing sparking a rivalry.

It’s just not happening yet.

O’Malley praised Talbott after watching clips of the victory over Saaiman.

“He’s sick to watch,” O’Malley said of Talbott on his YouTube channel. “He’s like a natural fighter.”

He’s also a natural athlete. Talbott has snowboarded since he was young, recently skateboarded with Tony Hawk in a connection made through his UFC success and was a standout football player and wrestler in high school.

He considered wrestling in college, but ultimately decided to enroll at UNR where he earned a degree with a major in psychology and a minor in music. Simultaneously diving deeper into mixed martial arts reignited his competitive spirit, even if it didn’t necessarily come easily at first while juggling school and work.   

“I was going through some really rough times psychologically and that old-school style of just getting in, beating the (expletive) out of each other and then get out was great for me,” Talbott said of his early training regimen. “That really seemed to give me some escapism at first. The gym isn’t like that anymore, but it was perfect at the time.”

Unlike many of his peers among the current generation of UFC fighters, Talbott immerses himself in more than mixed martial arts. He’s recorded and posted music spanning several genres over the last few years and is now learning to DJ with plans to release a mix soon.

He also produces and edits videos including several creative, abstract looks into his rise as a fighter on his YouTube channel.

“Life is too short to pigeonhole yourself in one thing,” Talbott said. “I do believe in putting your nose down and grinding, but if I were to put my nose down just fighting for the next five years, what am I going to have after?”

That’s not to say he doesn’t have high aspirations for his time in the UFC. Long-term goals include breaking into the top 15 of the UFC rankings in the bantamweight division this year and eventually fighting for the title.

“I want to do it in a way that hasn’t been done before,” Talbott said. “I just want to do it in the way that I do it and do it well.”

Most indications are that he’s capable. Talbott is the biggest favorite by the betting odds at UFC 303, at an astronomical price of -2000 (i.e. risking $2,000 to win $100) with Ghemmouri coming back at +1000 (i.e. risking $100 to win $1,000).

Those are high expectations for the first time he’s ever fought in front of a big crowd, let alone an arena. Talbott’s first two fights in the octagon were at the UFC Apex in made-for-TV cards.

But he doesn’t anticipate the fans affecting him as he prides himself in going into, “a mental state to handle anything,” before fights. Talbott predicts he will succeed in, “wringing Yannis out like a wet rag,” and then stay up all night for, “pure debauchery,” with a large friend group in town to watch him fight. 

It feels like Talbott’s fighting career is already accelerating at warp speed, but that’s the pace where he's most comfortable.  

“I just feel like you have to move fast in life because it passes you by even faster,” Talbott said.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or