LAS VEGAS -- In case you were wondering, there is plenty of time to think about what you've done and what awaits you after you've jumped off a 64-foot cliff and into a cold body of water. If you don't believe it, ask UFC bantamweight Payton Talbott, who has done it more than a few times.
As Talbott is describing cliff jumping -- And for the record, no thank you -- a reporter interrupts him to ask what seems like a pertinent question: Does it hurt when one hits the water after jumping off the side of a mountain 65 feet up?
Talbott smirks at the mere thought of the question. Hell yeah, it hurts; duh. And the water is invariably very cold. And because there is time to think, Talbott likes to do a flip on the way down to keep himself from thinking about what he's done.
But that won't stop him from doing it again.
"I'm a thrill seeker," said Talbott, an unbeaten 25-year-old bantamweight prospect from Reno, Nev., who fights 12-2 Yanis Ghemmouri at UFC 303 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. "I've got a taste for crazy experiences."
One might think it enough to voluntarily lock oneself in a cage and fight one of the world's best fighters, but it's not nearly enough for Talbott.
The riskier and the crazier an activity seems, the more likely Talbott is to give it a shot. Fighting is plenty risky and provides more than enough thrills for most, but it's not nearly enough to appease Talbott.
"You do this stuff and you feel alive," said Talbott, who opened plenty of eyes with an impressive second-round finish of Cameron Saaiman. "I can't get enough of it."
He's 8-0 as a pro, including a 2-0 mark in the UFC, after a 4-0 amateur career. He's only 25, though he looks like he could pass for 16, and he's already being asked about fights with bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley, one of the sport's biggest stars and best pound-for-pound fighters.
Talbott doesn't feel starstruck because he has a belief in himself that is greater than any accolades anyone else could give him.
"Expectations aren't a problem if you know you can do what they're saying," Talbott said. "I mean, people like what they have seen of me and they tell me think like what they think I can become as I get some experience, but I have always had that confidence. I guess there is pressure if you want to look at it that way. I just like it that I get to do what I love and people seem to like watching me do it."
At this point, there are no restrictions in his contract preventing him from doing some of the more outlandish things he likes to do. He earned his spot in the UFC on Aug. 8 when he won a decision over Reyes Cortez Jr. on Dana White's Contender Series.
That fight, though, nearly didn't happen.
Less than two months before the bout, while he was in the midst of a rigorous training camp, Talbott was out riding his street bike in the desert near his home. He may have been going a little fast and he may have been driving a bit recklessly, but whatever the cause, the bike wrecked and Talbott was thrown from it.
He tore the trapezius muscle in his right shoulder.
"That's probably the worst thing that's happened to me so far," Talbott said. "I remember walking back and ditching my bike on the side of the road. I did the walk of shame back home, cussing myself out because I caught myself being an idiot. I thought I was going to have to pull out of the fight because I couldn't use my right arm and the fight was coming up in a month, a month-and-a-half."
So for the time being, the street bike is gone and Talbott is seeking his thrills in a more pedestrian manner. It's hardly as if he's going to spend his days sitting in front of the TV playing video games, but he's trying to be smarter.
Taking risks is what makes him who he is, but there's a way to deal with it.
"I just know you don't need a street bike," he said, grinning impishly. "I mean, I have a skateboard, right? You just got to weigh the odds."
The odds on Saturday are heavily in Talbott's favor. The UFC rarely has anyone on the card who is favored more than 3-1, but Talbott is -1600 at DraftKings. Ghemmouri is +900.
He's expecting a, well, thrilling show.
"I think he's going to be very defensive and counter heavy," Talbott said. "He's going to move a lot and try to frustrate me. So I guess you can expect a striking battle. I don't think it's going to be on the ground too much. I think he's going to try to take my legs out from under me and I'm going to take his head off. So we'll see who wins."