UFC 311 is stacked from top to bottom, but keen-eyed fans will keep an eye on rising Payton Talbott during the prelims.
Now 9-0, Talbott was sufficiently hyped for his UFC debut in November 2023. His stock skyrocketed even higher with dominant wins over Cameron Saaiman and Yanis Ghemmouri, the latter of whom he knocked out in less than 20 seconds hit.
Talbott is gearing up for his toughest test yet in Raoni Barcelos, a bantamweight mainstay who served as a springboard on Umar Nurmagomedov's path to UFC gold. It could soon be time for Talbott to undertake the same journey, but Barcelos is not an easy fight.
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Raoni Barcelos is a live underdog at UFC 311
Barcelos debuted in the UFC in 2018, defeating future The Ultimate Fighter Season 31 winner Kurt Holobaugh with an uppercut in the first round.
Barcelos next appeared in the final preliminaries of The Ultimate Fighter Season 28, where he defeated Chris Gutierrez. Gutierrez would win his next eight fights, including a stunning knee knockout against former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.
Barcelos' top-of-the-line victory is his unanimous decision over Said Nurmagomedov, who has since gone 5-1 in the UFC. This, along with Barcelos' performance against Timur Valiev, has put Barcelos in high regard as one of the most underrated unranked fighters in bantamweight.
Raoni Barcelos has only lost to the highest opposition
His UFC career has been marred only by shutout losses to Victor Henry and Kyler Phillips, as well as his lone knockout loss to Nurmagomedov in January 2023. Talbott will get the chance to hand Barcelos a second knockout loss at UFC 311 .
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