Payton Talbott's inactivity since his last fight in December hasn't been by choice.
Talbott (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) hasn't competed since defeating Henry Cejudo in a thrilling battle at UFC 323. He meets Deiveson Figueiredo (25-7-1 MMA, 14-7-1 UFC) in Saturday's UFC 332 (Paramount+) co-main event at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
The 28-year-old revealed that the UFC had plans for him to compete at the White House in June, but no matchups materialized. He mentioned one name in particular who's a former champion and one of the biggest names in the sport.
"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 on his YouTube channel. "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 right now?' 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 going to fight you, but this morning he broke his foot.' So, that was pretty much what I was getting. Then it was 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?"
Former bantamweight champion O'Malley (20-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) wound up fighting Aiemann Zahabi at UFC Freedom 250, knocking him out in Round 2 to notch his second straight win.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Payton Talbott claims he was in talks to fight ex-UFC champ at White House
