Then, instead of capitalizing on that breakout performance … poof! He vanished.
“I’ve just been doing me, but I’ve been training a lot and doing the same old things—music, travel,” Talbott recently told reporters during a media scrum. “But, yeah, I just took a step back from sharing. You know, you’ve got to keep really important things inside of yourself, or else you could potentially lose them. So, yeah, just detoxing for a second.”
Although Talbott stepped away from the media and public eye, the 27-year-old never wanted to take a break from competing.
“I’ve been waiting for the better part of a year,” Talbott said. “I’ve been spoken to about a bunch of fights, but I guess people have had better plans, or I don’t know how it all works. If I don’t fight before the end of the year, I don’t know what will happen with my sanity.
“I haven’t wanted to take a step back from fighting at all—just from sharing things with the media,” he continued. “But I’ve heard fighters have had injuries, dates don’t line up. I guess I just got stuck being patient because of the position I’m in.”
Before defeating Cejudo, Talbott told MMAmania.com that he was not worried about struggling to find willing opponents once he entered the rankings.
Unfortunately, that concern has now become a reality.
“I’ve always wanted to fight up, but I understand the guys in the Top 10—it’s quite risky if they lose,” Talbott said. “Most people are going to say no to fighting me, and they don’t have much to gain by beating me.
“But at the same time, there are only so many of us, so what else am I supposed to do?” he continued. “I wasn’t offered anyone below me—and I haven’t said no yet—and because of that, I have a loss on my record.”
Thankfully, Talbott finally has another opponent 10 months after his victory over Cejudo—and it is a big one for him.
Figueiredo is a former UFC champion and currently sits at No. 11 in the Bantamweight rankings, giving Talbott an opportunity to make up for lost time and officially break into the Top 15.
To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.
