Another big attraction has been confirmed for UFC 311 on January 18 in California which serves as the first big event from the MMA leader in 2025.
In a great match-up at 135-pounds, undefeated rising star Payton Talbott will face his toughest test to date in Raoni Barcelos.
The fight was initially reported by MMA Fighting before it was officially confirmed by the UFC.
9-0 Talbott has been one of the breakout stars of 2024 following a Contender Series win in August of last year.
He followed that up with a finish over Nick Aguirre on his Octagon debut but it's this year where he has really emerged as one of the most exciting prospects in the sport.
The 26-year old has earned consecutive performance bonuses by dominating and stopping Cameron Saaiman in March and finishing Yanis Ghemmouri in just 19 seconds in June.
37-year old Barcelos has got eight more Octagon appearances than his opponent and far more pro experience as a seasoned bantamweight contender.
In his last outing, the Brazilian submitted Cristian Quiñonez to bounce back from consecutive defeats to Umar Nurmagomedov and Kyler Phillips.
Barcelos tends to only lose to opponents that go on to compete in and around the top 15 so this will be an excellent acid test for the surging Talbott.
The following ten fights have been confirmed for the card meaning that we're only a few more match-ups away from knowing the full line-up for the first PPV card of 2025:
Jamahal Hill vs. Jiri Prochazka
Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
Muin Gafurov vs. Rinya Nakamura
Bogdan Guskov vs. Johnny Walker
Ailin Perez vs. Karol Rosa
Sedriques Dumas vs. Zach Reese
Raoni Barcelos vs. Payton Talbott
Bernardo Sopaj vs. Ricky Turcios
