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Payton Talbott has a name and a date for his return to the octagon.
The undefeated UFC bantamweight prospect faces veteran Raoni Barcelos at UFC 311 – the promotion’s first pay-per-view of 2025, set to take place January 18 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood , in California.
The UFC officially announced the fight on Saturday. MMA Fighting was first to report the match.
Talbott (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is coming off his quickest career victory, a 19-second knockout over Yanis Ghemmouri at UFC 303 in June. The 26-year-old fighter is considered one of the top prospects at 125 pounds today. Talbott also won two consecutive $50,000 Performance of the Night bonuses in his last two performances.
On the other hand, his opponent, Barcelos (18-5 MMA, 7-4 UFC), is coming off a submission victory over Cristian Quiñonez in February. The victory ended a two-fight losing streak for the 37-year-old veteran, who is 2-4 in his last six trips to the octagon.
The current UFC 311 lineup includes:
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Jamahal Hill vs. Jiri Prochazka
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Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
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Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
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Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
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Muin Gafurov vs. Rinya Nakamura
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Bogdan Guskov vs. Johnny Walker
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Ailin Perez vs. Karol Rosa
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Sédriques Dumas vs. Zach Reese
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Raoni Barcelos vs. Payton Talbott
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Bernardo Sopaj vs. Ricky Turcios
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 311.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 311: Undefeated prospect Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos officially announced
