Payton Talbott reveals he was in talks to face Sean O’Malley at the White House.

O’Malley ended up facing Aiemann Zahabi on the card, whom he knocked out, but Talbott was in the running for that fight. It would have been a major fight, but for whatever reason it didn’t come to fruition.

According to Talbott, the UFC told him O’Malley wasn’t available after asking about the fight, and then it was announced he was facing Zahabi.

“I was supposed to fight Sean [O’Malley], then I was supposed to fight him, I was supposed to fight her, all kinds of names,” Talbott said. “Supposedly when I was supposed to fight them, they all had a broken foot. I was like, ‘Dude, what’s up with everybody’s feet?‘ It must be something in the water.

“They were like, ‘Oh, so and so broke his foot. He really wants to fight you, but his foot is broken. This guy, he was gonna fight you, but this morning he broke his foot.’ Then it’s funny, because the same names that said their feet were broken are suddenly getting booked … it could be UFC, it could be people scared. I wonder which?”

Why the UFC offered the fight and then walked it back isn’t known. But perhaps the promotion is waiting for it to be a potential title fight, or No. 1 contender fight, to book it.

Payton Talbott is set to take on Deiveson Figueiredo in the co-main event of UFC 332 on Saturday in Utah. Should he beat the former flyweight champ, he could start to enter the title conversation at bantamweight.

Talbott enters the fight on a two-fight winning streak and is coming off a decision win over Henry Cejudo.

UFC 332 Fight Card

The full fight card for UFC 332 on Saturday is as follows:

• Natalia Silva vs. Wang Cong – women’s flyweight title fight
• Payton Talbott vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
• Roman Kopylov vs. Ateba Gautier
• King Green vs. Esteban Ribovics
• Khaos Williams vs. Roberto Soldic
• Mick Parkin vs. Johnny Walker
• Alden Cora vs. Imanol Rodriguez
• Damian Pinas vs. Andrey Pulyaev
• Court McGee vs. Eric Nolan
• Marvin Vettori vs. Ismail Naurdiev
• Alexander Hernandez vs. Rafael dos Anjos
• Marcus McGhee vs. Benardo Sopaj
• Anthony Wint vs. Lucas Armand
• Jacobe Smith vs. Bruce Whitehead

Stay locked to BJPENN.com all week for your UFC 332 fight coverage.

Who do you think would have won, Payton Talbott or Sean O’Malley?

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