UFC 317: Highly touted prospect Payton Talbott returns to action against 14-1 opponent

Highly touted prospect Payton Talbott is ready to make his return to action when he faces Felipe Lima an interesting bantamweight scrap added to UFC 317 on June 28 in Las Vegas.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Saturday following an initial report from Frontkick Online.

With an undefeated record through nine fights, Talbott looked like he was going to make a lot of waves in the UFC but then he ran into a brick wall named Raoni Barcelos, who handed him the first loss of his career back at UFC 311 in January. Up until that fight, Talbott had run roughshod over his competition but he finally met his match with Barcelos and ultimately dropped a unanimous decision.

Now the 26-year-old prospect returns to action at UFC 317 while facing off with the 14-1 Lima, who has scored back-to-back wins since joining the roster.

In his debut, Lima took out Muhammad Naimov before defeating Miles Johns in his second octagon appearance and he’ll attempt to make it three in a row when he faces Talbott in June.

Talbott vs. Lima is the latest addition to the International Fight Week card headlined by Ilia Topuria returning to 155 pounds where he faces Charles Oliveira to crown a new champion in the lightweight division after Islam Makhachev relinquished his belt to move to welterweight. In the co-main event, Alexandre Pantoja puts his flyweight title on the line against Kai-Kara France.

Guilherme Cruz contributed to this report