UFC star Payton Talbott recently appeared on Matan Even’s podcast, where the conversation took an unexpected turn into discussions about his sexuality and the infamous Aden Ross incident.
When pressed by host Matan Even about online comments calling him gay, Talbott initially deflected, questioning whether being gay should even be considered an insult.
Matan argued that labeling someone as gay could be a “nasty thing to say,” comparing it to calling a stranger “ugly” or “dumba**.” Talbott pushed back on that framing, repeatedly questioning why the label should be offensive at all.
“Is being gay nasty?” Talbott asked, rejecting the comparison outright. He remained firm, reiterating that he doesn’t see being gay as much of an insult in the first place, but rather as a neutral characteristic.
Eventually, Matan asked directly: “Are you gay?” Talbott’s response was clear: “No.”
The host then gave him props, to which Talbott questioned why. “Because I was honest with you,” Talbott said. Matan admitted candidly, “You told me something that I like to hear that made me more comfortable to be around you.”
The conversation shifted to allegations from streamer Adin Ross, who reportedly threatened legal action against Talbott. “He said he was going to sue me because it was SA,” Talbott explained. When asked what specifically happened, he stated, “Well, allegedly I sent a picture of my balls to him.”
Matan circled the moment back to the discussion around sexuality. “So, that kind of goes back a little to the first thing,” he said, suggesting the incident itself could be interpreted as “a little gay.”
Talbott defended the action as humor rather than something inappropriate. He said, “Well, I mean, you could call it gay or you could call it funny.”
Matan addressed why some might find being called gay insulting, referencing his psychology education. He suggested a conspiracy theory he had heard: “They’re messing up your brain. They’re messing up the brain functions. I heard that they put a little rock. They end up blocking because you know genetically obviously the normal thing is to be straight.”
He continued with this theory, claiming it affects genetics across generations, though his tone suggested he was being provocative rather than stating genuine beliefs.
In perhaps the most unusual moment, Talbott discussed whether being gay could provide a competitive advantage in combat. “I think there actually was like a gay fighter that was fully out of the closet and everything…. I think his name’s like Jeff Molina or something,” he said, though he couldn’t recall how successful the fighter was.
When asked if an openly gay fighter might make opponents uncomfortable during grappling exchanges, Talbott acknowledged, “They wouldn’t really want to wrestle them.”
