Payton
Talbott is oozing a different level of confidence going into
his upcoming
Ultimate Fighting Championship outing.
Talbott (8-0) will take on French prospect Yanis
Ghemmouri (12-2) at
UFC 303 on June 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Always
portraying an aura of extremely stoic confidence, Talbott is no
different going into Saturday. However, this time Talbott went as
far as to actually lay down a gameplan for Ghemmouri to beat
him.
Talbott advised Ghemmouri to chop his base with leg kicks and throw
in volume to be able to land. Talbott also warned “The Desert
Warrior” against making it a slow-paced affair.
“The key to success for Yanis Ghemmouri, if you’re listening: the
way for you to beat me is to take my legs away,” Talbott said on
his YouTube channel. “Just kick me as much as you can. It will
serve you well. Please throw more than two strikes at a time.
Nobody likes watching a slow-paced fight. The counter will be hard
to land if you only throw one-to-two strikes. I know you are
listening to this because it’s in your foreign tongue. Get those
quick kicks going. Yanis good luck to you. I’m looking forward to
our night of work together.”
Talbott has finished seven of eight pro wins so far, which includes
two in the UFC. The undefeated prospect most recently knocked out
fellow prospect Cameron
Saaiman in March.
Meanwhile, Ghemmouri’s Octagon debut ended in a controversial
stoppage loss against fellow Frenchman William
Gomis at UFC Paris in September 2023. Ghemmouri was losing the
first two rounds on all the scorecards when he cried low blow to a
kick from Gomis in the third round. Referee Loic Pora
disagreed, urged Ghemmouri to continue fighting and declared it a
TKO loss when he refused to. Pora’s decision was upheld upon
review.
Talbott believes Gomis’ kick connected to Ghemmouri’s lower
abdomen, well above the cup. Talbott also labeled Ghemmouri a
“quitter.” Talbott plans on targeting Ghemmouri’s lower abdomen and
neutralizing his kicking game with heavy volume.
“He got kicked in a little weak point right here, thought it was a
nut kick,” Talbott said. “He took his time, told the ref, kind of
shows that he’s a quitter… It’s pretty obvious, not a nut kick,
lower abdomen, still doesn’t feel good. It is well above the cup.
Major key to success is kicking the lower abdomen. So I’m going to
be targeting that. A major key to success for me is just pouring
the volume on him and drowning him with my strikes. And shutting
down his fast whippy kicks.”