Sean O’Malley likes Payton Talbott callout, but denies ducking fight: ‘He made it up’
UFC fighter Sean O'Malley has denied allegations that he ducked a fight with Payton Talbott. O'Malley stated he is currently focused on a potential rematch with Petr Yan depending on the outcome of upcoming championship bouts.
Why it matters
Fighter matchups and public callouts drive engagement and narrative building in professional mixed martial arts.
Sean O’Malley has no problem with meeting Payton Talbott in the cage, but he won’t let Talbott control the narrative.
Talbott continued his rise up the bantamweight rankings at UFC 332 this past Saturday with a lopsided knockout win over Deiveson Figueiredo, and used his post-fight interview time to call out O’Malley. This isn’t the first time Talbott has mentioned the possibility of fighting O’Malley, and he has pushed the rumor that the two could have potentially fought at UFC White House this past June.
According to O’Malley, that just isn’t true.
“We’ll address the ducking allegations first of all,” O’Malley said on the The SuGuru Show. “I don’t like bringing family into this, but I swear on my family I did not get offered Payton Talbott at the White House. Here’s the thing, if he can also swear that he did, then there was miscommunication somewhere on the line.
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