Once Payton Talbott made weight for his UFC 303 matchup, the eating commenced.
The rising bantamweight prospect remained undefeated with an impressive 19-second knockout of Yanis Ghemmouri on the prelims of UFC’s International Fight Week event. Talbott revealed following his win that he was much heavier than the 135.5 pounds he weighed on the morning before the event.
“I was like 161 with clothes on,” Talbott said on The MMA Hour. “I had quite a bit of clothes on, so I don’t know.”
When asked why he put on so much weight, the 25-year-old answered honestly, putting over seafood as a wonderful tool for packing weight back on before a fight.
“I was just stuffing myself,” Talbott said. “I went to [an] oyster bar in Vegas ... and then we went to sushi, I had whatever the UFC gave me — a bunch of pasta, I had pudding cake, just so much stuff.”
Talbott improved to 9-0 as a pro with the win, which includes finishes in all but his victory on Contender Series this past August. Since inking a contract, Talbott is 3-0 inside the octagon.
As he continues to find success, Talbott is starting to see that having a low profile is going to be much more difficult.
“I get a feeling for what the future is going to be like,” Talbott explained. “I can just internally feel the way things are going to go, and it’s a little scary and intimidating — but it’s also exciting. ... I just don’t like having the spotlight on me, honestly. It’s just what people watch and it’s like, ‘What’s next, what’s next?’
“Sometimes it makes me a little uncomfortable, a little uneasy when people are watching too hard. I just desire to be watched and not seen.”
