Preview: UFC 311 Prelims

Bantamweights

Payton Talbott (9-0, 3-0 UFC) vs. Raoni Barcelos (18-5, 7-4 UFC)

ODDS: Talbott (-1200), Barcelos (+750)

Talbott appears to be arriving ahead of schedule, and it’s time to see if the top bantamweight prospect is ready to make his run up the ladder. A 2023 alumnus of Dana White’s Contender Series, Talbott was clearly a prospect with a ton of long-term potential at the time he earned a contract. Blessed with durability and a gas tank, Talbott showed a clear understanding of this current era of mixed martial arts, applying pace and pressure wherever possible. However, there were some clear issues for Talbott to iron out. Wrestlers and grapplers would usually find success slowing Talbott’s momentum for stretches at a time, and he was generally prone to slow starts that better opposition figured to be able to exploit. Talbott’s UFC competition to date has been a combination of flawed prospects and low-level veterans, but he appears to have patched up some of those holes. His defensive wrestling is still a bit of a question mark, but Talbott has done a much better job of picking up steam from the jump and scoring some knockout blows. Having proven everything he has needed to prove thus far, Talbott now gets the toughest test of his career against the perennially underrated Barcelos.

Given a bit better luck, Barcelos could have made a run towards title contention. He came to the UFC in his 30s essentially as a finished product, but attempts to give him some big fights and break him into the rankings fell through until after the Brazilian aged out of his peak form. At Barcelos’ best, he would eventually overtake opponents by learning through attrition. Offensively potent in all aspects, Barcelos would pressure his opponents and eat damage but gather enough information to keep formulating new ideas until something blew the fight wide open. However, with the bit of athletic slippage Barcelos has suffered in his late 30s, he has lost a lot of his margin for error, mostly in terms of his ability to track down his opponents. The good news from a Barcelos standpoint is that Talbott doesn’t fit the mold of his roughest stylistic matchups nowadays. Barcelos’ worst losses have come against opponents capable of outmaneuvering him from range, while Talbott should be more than willing to engage him in a war of attrition. That would make a Barcelos upset fall short of being a complete shock, but this does look like Talbott’s fight to lose. If this does wind up as a test of power and cardio, Talbott seems to have the advantage in both aspects, even if running away with this fight might prove a bit harder than expected. The pick is Talbott via second-round stoppage.

Jump To »
Talbott vs. Barcelos
Guskov vs. Elekana
Almeida vs. Spivac
Reese vs. Bekoev
Dawson vs. Ferreira
Rosa vs. Perez
Nakamura vs. Gafurov
Sopai vs. Turcios
Ulanbekov vs. Carpenter