News Payton Talbott is fighting Raoni Barcelos at UFC 311

[Koala]

Talbott is 9-0, 3-0 in the UFC, at 26 yo
Main wins are against Cameron Saaiman, Yanis Ghemmouri, and Tracy Cortez's brother
He trains at a small team in Reno, Nevada, and used to fight in Urijah's organization before joining the UFC through DWCS
He is a striker who avoids the clinch and the takedowns

Raoni Barcelos is 18-5, 7-4 in the UFC, at 37 yo
Main wins are against Said Nurmagomedov, Chris Gutierrez and Kurt Holobaugh
He lost in the UFC to Umar Nurmagomedov, Timur Valiev, Victor Henry, and Kyler Phillips, so he loses only to good fighters
He trains at Refit in Rio de Janeiro, his father's and Pedro Rizzo's team

 

[wh4tttt]

Barcelos seems to be a sacrifice.

 

[Necrocrawler]

Barcelos seems to be a sacrifice.

Honestly...
Half of his UFC career looks like that

Edit: Not really... But i couldn't believe he was -500 favourite against Timur Valiev

 

[NicholasJBasile]

This is a nice match up -- Barcelos is a vet that will flex his wrestling against Talbott.

 

[Substance Abuse]

Barcelos is a solid vet who's on the down swing, but his chin is there to be had. He'll likely get finished by strikes from Talbott. Solid move by the UFC to give him a wily vet he can probably finish and get more cage time.

 

[sonhow]

Talbot is not just fighting he is absolutely beating the living heck out of Barcelos

 

[Duke Kensington]

Pretty high on Talbott. Don’t have a big problem taking his career slow especially since he’s pretty young still

 

[Kwic]

Talbott via pole dance choke.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Brown Omalley via KO.

Raoni is like a dollar store of Aldo but he fights like he is 5 years older.

 

[kingmob6]

Talbot is exciting, but man does he put himself into line of fire and takes shots back. Somebody will eventually put his lights out.

 

[Deleted member 585708]

I'll tell you what, there are easier fights out there than Raoni.

Perhaps Talbott does win, but I hope he makes it a scrap!

 

[Ares Black]

Barcelos almost reached contender status, but now he is a gatekeeper. I expect Talbott to make a statement.

 

[Ares Black]

Pretty high on Talbott. Don’t have a big problem taking his career slow especially since he’s pretty young still

I wouldn't say fighting Barcelos at this point is taking his career slow. Talbott is still only 9-0, 3-0 in the UFC, and Raoni Barcelos is a significant step up in competition and a good test IMO.

 

[Luckyme]

I thought the UFC would give him someone just outside the top 15 like Adrian Yanez or Ricky Simon but this isn't a bad matchup.

Barcelos will test him on the ground however he's getting chinned if he tries to stand and bang with Talbott.

 

[Safton]

Barcelos better shoot from the locker room. Nick Aguirre had early success taking Talbott down and controlling him. Aguirre wasn't really UFC-level, but the one skill set he had was his offensive grappling. Barcelos is an explosive athlete (or he was in his prime) with legitimate wrestling credentials and a Black Belt. He oftentimes goes out there and fights like Imitation Aldo, but the truth is that when he puts his mind to it he is capable of testing a lot of guys with his takedowns and top game.

That said, Barcelos has lost a step in regards to speed, durability, and gas tank IMO. I could see him putting Payton on his back or against the cage early and looking good, but eventually I expect him to get clipped.

 

[RockyLockridge]

he's building momentum the right way. Good for this lad.

Lets keep him on the 8 win path to a title shot

 

[VinceArch]

Fun match up, it'll be interesting to see how Payton handles Raoni.

 

[TadDunbar]

TalGOAT via KO

 

[HuskySamoan]

This is a nice match up -- Barcelos is a vet that will flex his wrestling against Talbott.

Talbott has a wrestling background, I'm not convinced he can hold up vs a more sticky and comprehensive grappler like a Merab or Umar but I think vs a shot Raoni it probably will look decent and likely he will end up in the top 15. Kids really exciting, I'd like to see him vs a Javid Basharat, Montel Jackson, Said Nurmagomedov type in 2025.

 

[asdf122345]

Talbott by easy ko. I think he beats Merab as well.