Henry Cejudo wants to see Payton Talbott get the biggest fight available to him after his latest win at UFC 332. The former UFC two-division champion believes he should be booked to fight Sean O’Malley next.
Cejudo made the case on Sunday following UFC 332, where Talbott stopped former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo in the first round. The finish at the 2:09 mark came after Talbott scored two knockdowns and pressured Figueiredo.
Cejudo took to X and wrote:
“Nobody wants to fight Payton Talbott. He’s been ignored for a year. You have to give him the best competition, and they need to stop protecting [Sean O’Malley]. Talbott vs. [O’Malley] next. Sign the contract!”
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Check out Henry Cejudo‘s X post below:
Talbott also called for a fight with O’Malley during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. The victory extended his winning streak to three fights and improved his record to 12-1 overall and 6-1 in the UFC. In his post-fight speech, Talbott said:
“I just mopped the floor with two champions back-to-back, and now I want another one. Andrew Garfield, I mean, Sean O’Malley, you can’t run forever. Give the people what they want.”
The win was Talbott’s first fight in 10 months. He had previously defeated Cejudo by unanimous decision at UFC 323 on December 6, 2025. Talbott later revealed that the UFC had attempted to book him against O’Malley for UFC Freedom 250 in June, but the matchup did not materialize.
O’Malley enters the picture with a 20-3 record and is also riding a two-fight winning streak. He defeated Aiemann Zahabi by second-round TKO at UFC Freedom 250 before beating Song Yadong by unanimous decision in January. Those wins came after back-to-back losses to Merab Dvalishvili, including the defeat that cost him the bantamweight championship.
The Cejudo-O’Malley tension also predates the latest callout. O’Malley recently mocked Cejudo while discussing Talbott’s resume. Cejudo responded by calling O’Malley “Sean O’Methly” and accusing the UFC of protecting him.
Edited by Abhishek Nambiar
