Ex-UFC champ douses cold water on Payton Talbott fighting Sean O'Malley next

Aljamain Sterling questions the UFC’s matchmaking for Payton Talbott.

Talbott (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) defeated his second straight former champion when finished Deiveson Figueiredo (25-8-1 MMA, 14-8-1 UFC) in Round 1 of Saturday’s UFC 332 co-headliner at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

Sterling (26-5 MMA, 18-5 UFC) suggested Cory Sandhagen or Marlon Vera for Talbott’s next fight, but then had a different idea.

“Aiemann Zahabi? Give him another 40-year-old,” Sterling said of Talbott on his YouTube channel. “Why are we stopping now?”

Talbott called out former UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley (20-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC), who was the one to dethrone Sterling. “The Funkmaster” moved up to featherweight after losing his belt.

“It’s not going to happen, but I think they planted the seed,” Sterling said of Talbott vs. O’Malley. “I mean, Sandman’s (Sandhagen) been calling him out, now Payton’s calling him out, Umar’s in the wings, the title fight is coming up. There’s a lot of movement.

“This is a whole lot of motion at 135 right now, and I just love the division again. I was looking at the rankings, I was like, ‘Damn, I kind of miss being in this playground with these guys,’ you know? I thought about it (dropping back down). I was like, yeah, no, I’d die, I think. I don’t know.”

After seeing Talbott’s recent wins, Sterling takes umbrage with those who questioned his resume.

“Payton beat Henry (Cejudo), and if people rate Payton’s win over Henry, then they better rate my win over Henry because f*ck you,” Sterling said. “Some of these fans are assholes, dude. ‘Oh, you’re not really a great champ because Henry came off the couch, and T.J.’s shoulder.’

“T.J. told the guy in the back room his shoulder might come out, and he’ll pop it back in. Don’t worry about it. I’ve had the same injury before, and I fought like that so don’t worry about it. But when I win, you find any reason to discredit my win. I don’t understand. I could only fight the guy they put in front of me.”

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ex-UFC champ douses cold water on Payton Talbott fighting Sean O’Malley next