Deiveson Figueiredo (25-7-1) and Payton Talbott (11-1) came face-to-face for the first time ahead of UFC 332, and the former flyweight champion could not resist giving the rising bantamweight contender a little push.
The incident occurred Thursday following the pre-fight press conference, where all 10 main card athletes gathered for the traditional faceoffs. Almost everyone kept their hands to themselves, but Figueiredo broke the unwritten rule by shoving Talbott during their staredown.
Title fight combatants Natalia Silva and Cong Wang remained relatively respectful from distance.
The Matchup
Odds: Talbott (-625), Figueiredo (+455)
This is not the most tantalizing matchup for Talbott as he works his way up the bantamweight ladder, but it is at least nice to see one of the UFC's best prospects in action for his long-overdue first fight of 2026.
The hype train quickly got behind the oddly charismatic Talbott upon his 2023 UFC debut, though there were some clear issues to be worked out even as he racked up dynamic wins. Talbott showed an excellent understanding of the pace and pressure that wins fights in this era of mixed martial arts but also had little regard for anything his opponents threw his way, making his fights a bit tougher than they needed to be at times.
Still, it was a shock when those worries came home to roost at the beginning of 2025 against Raoni Barcelos, who outwrestled Talbott to score one of the year's biggest upsets. But if there was any concern that Talbott's defensive awareness would become a fatal flaw, it took him all of five months to correct those issues. Felipe Lima typically finds a lot of success through his own dogged wrestling and scrambling, and Talbott shut that entire part of his game down in a clear decision win.
Talbott's focus on defensive wrestling against Lima limited his striking output a bit, but again, Talbott's next performance saw him correct any potential issues from his last one. Given a big step up against Henry Cejudo, Talbott synthesized his wrestling and striking in a manner that led to a surprising extended beatdown of the former two-division champ. Talbott seems ready to get thrown into the fire and given a big fight, and this matchup against Figueiredo does somewhat qualify.
