'Don't talk trash'… Merab Dvalishvili confronts rising star Payton Talbott in viral footage ahead of UFC 311

01/16/2025 10:23 AM

Merab Dvalishvili pressing Payton Talbott wasn’t on anybody’s UFC 311 bingo card.

Talbott called Dvalishvili ‘dumber than a box of rocks’ during an interview with ESPN before UFC 303 – and ‘The Machine’ noticed. Now, Talbott fights on the prelims of UFC 311, where Dvalishvili fights to defend his bantamweight title against Umar Nurmagomedov in the co-main event.

Dvalishvili wasn’t letting Talbott’s comments slide, and despite the pressure of a four month turnaround since his last defense, he forced an apology from the young buck.

Merab Dvalishvili tells Payton Talbott to stop talking trash ahead of UFC 311

During fight week, Dvalishvili showed footage of the two bantamweights crossing paths. Talbott appeared to wish Dvalishvili good luck. Dvalishvili thanked him, reciprocated, and brought up Talbott’s comments from the interview.

“[…] Next time don’t talk trash about me,” Dvalishvili hollered at Talbott. “You said I’m dumb, remember?”

Dvalishvili walked up to Talbott, but they appeared to squash the beef before shaking hands and moving on.

Payton Talbott could be the UFC’s next big thing

There’s an undeniable hype around 9-0 Talbott, who hasn’t tasted an ounce of adversity in his three-fight UFC run. The Nevada native was thrown straight to the wolves, passing with flying colors by finishing Nick Aguirre, Cameron Saaiman, and Yanis Ghemmouri.

Dricus Du Plessis teammate Saaiman was one of the best prospects coming out of South Africa, and Talbott completely dismantled him for a dominant KO in their March 2024 fight.

A victory at UFC 311 would likely propel Talbott into the bantamweight rankings, where he aims to secure a top-five position or even a title shot. The narrative surrounding his potential matchup with Dvalishvili is now established. We’ve seen more surprising outcomes in the past, such as Sean O’Malley, Steve Erceg, and Kai Asakura receiving No. 1 contender or title shots, even though they were either low-ranked or unranked, as was the case with Asakura.

Before this can be considered, Talbott must defeat Raoni Barcelos, a gritty UFC veteran.