Say What? Payton Talbott Articulates Blueprint for Opponent to Win at UFC 303

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.”