“Nobody wants to fight Payton Talbott. He’s been ignored for a year. You have to give him the best competition and they need to stop protecting Sean O’Methly. Talbott vs O’Methly next sign the contract!!” Henry Cejudo wrote on X about 20 minutes after Talbott’s win over Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 332 on Oct. 3.
The nickname is pure Cejudo. The claim that someone is protecting O’Malley is his opinion, and nothing in the record backs it up. He offered no evidence, and nobody has shown that the UFC is steering O’Malley away from Talbott.
The bigger fact is the rankings. The Times of India reported that Talbott climbed five spots to crack the bantamweight top 10. Knockout Daily’s Cagefile data had him at No. 15 going into the week, so the jump puts him at the edge of the list’s upper half. He’s now 12-1 out of Reno Academy of Combat. Championship Rounds called the Figueiredo fight a destruction, and Talbott didn’t waste the microphone afterward.
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“Sean O’Malley, you can’t run forever. Give the people what they want,” Talbott said in his post-fight callout, as posted by Championship Rounds.
O’Malley answered within a day. “4 out of last 7 fights have been against 3 of the greatest bantamweights of all time. Ain’t duckin no one,” he said in a response Championship Rounds shared on Oct. 4. Spinnin Backfist’s verdict on the callout was two words: BOOK IT.
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Why does a 28-year-old with 12 pro wins have this much pull? Talbott came through Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2023, then submitted Nick Aguirre, stopped Cameron Saaiman and knocked out Yanis Ghemmouri in 19 seconds at UFC 303. Two of those wins came with Performance of the Night bonuses. The one blemish matters for matchmaking, though. Raoni Barcelos outwrestled and controlled him for a unanimous decision at UFC 311 in January 2025. That was his first loss in MMA, and it’s the tape every future opponent’s coaches will study first.
That loss also shapes the case against jumping straight to O’Malley. A fight with a ranked grappler would answer the Barcelos question before a title-adjacent fight does. Talbott’s side clearly doesn’t want to wait, and Cejudo is loudly on their side.
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O’Malley’s response doesn’t close the door. He only rejected the word “running.” If the UFC wants a bantamweight fight that sells on name value and a fresh five-spot jump, the next step is a contract offer, and so far neither camp has said one exists.
