Merab Dvalishvili pressing Payton Talbott was not on anyone's UFC 311 bingo card.
Talbott called Dvalishvili “dumber than a box of bricks” during an interview with ESPN before UFC 303 – and “The Machine” took notice. Now Talbott fights in the prelims of UFC 311, where Dvalishvili fights to defend his bantamweight title against Umar Nurmagomedov in the co-main event.
Dvalishvili did not let Talbott's comments pass, and despite the pressure of a four-month turnaround since his last defense, he forced an apology from the young buck.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Merab Dvalishvili tells Payton Talbott to stop talking trash ahead of UFC 311
During fight week, Dvalishvili showed footage of the two bantamweights crossing paths. Talbott appeared to wish Dvalishvili the best of luck. Dvalishvili thanked him, replied and brought up Talbott's comments from the interview.
“[…] Next time don't talk nonsense about me,” Dvalishvili shouted at Talbott. “You said I'm stupid, remember?”
Dvalishvili walked up to Talbott, but they seemed to squash the beef before shaking hands and moving on.
Payton Talbott could be the UFC's next big thing
There's an undeniable hype surrounding 9-0 Talbott, who hasn't tasted an ounce of adversity during his three-fight UFC run. The Nevada native was thrown straight to the wolves and passed with flying colors, finishing off Nick Aguirre, Cameron Saaiman and Yanis Ghemmouri.
Dricus Du Plessis teammate Saaiman was one of South Africa's top prospects, and Talbott completely dismantled him for a dominant KO in their March 2024 fight.
A win at UFC 311 would likely propel Talbott up the bantamweight rankings, where he will look to secure a top-five ranking or even a title shot. The story surrounding his potential match with Dvalishvili has now been established. We've seen more surprising outcomes in the past, such as Sean O'Malley, Steve Erceg and Kai Asakura getting #1 contender or title shots even though they were ranked low or not, as was the case with Asakura.
Before this can be considered, Talbott must defeat Raoni Barcelos, a gritty UFC veteran.
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