UFC fighter Payton Talbott has no idea how he became friends with Frank Ocean.
The 26-year-old UFC Bantamweight made it back to the win column at UFC 317 last weekend.
A highly-touted prospect, Talbott lost his undefeated record to veteran Raoni Barcelos earlier this year at UFC 311 and rebounded with a decision win over fellow prospect Felipe Lima on the UFC 317 pay-per-view.
While unranked, Talbott has amassed quite the social media presence for his knockouts and personality, with nearly 300,000 followers on Instagram, one of which is famous singer Frank Ocean.
So, how did Talbott come to know Ocean?
Payton Talbott doesn’t know how he got on Frank Ocean’s radar
Following his fight at UFC 317, Talbott was asked how he became friends with Ocean.
“He just reached out to me after my fight a year ago on International Fight Week and we just kinda kept contact,” Talbott said on The Ariel Helwani Show.
“We hung out a couple times and we just had a lot of appreciation for each other and our respective careers.”
After hanging out, Ocean supported Talbott by attending his fight with Barcelos at UFC 311 in January.
A huge fan of his music, Talbott said Ocean is ‘not a fight fan’.
“It was kinda strange,” Talbott said of the singer approaching him.
“Just unexpected at first. The last person I would have expected. But, after meeting him, he’s just a normal person. He’s a very special person and very gifted, and just brilliant.
“I don’t know,” Talbott said, when asked how Ocean found him.
“The universe just connects people and has a weird way with the strings.”
“There’s a lot of parallels between being an artist and martial arts as well as music. We can get into talks just about how similar it is with performances and curating your craft and your image,” Talbott added.
Frank Ocean saw Payton Talbott’s last win at UFC 317
Talbott showed great strides since his last defeat at UFC 311.
Five months removed from the Barcelos loss, Talbott looked much improved in the grappling department against Lima and defended 12 out of 15 takedown attempts.
While Talbott didn’t pick up the knockout, the prospect went viral for a position he was in during the third round of his fight.
Talbott had top control with his head near Lima’s butt and Lima was in the bottom position and had his head near Talbott’s crotch area.
Ocean reposted the screenshot on his Instagram story with a crying face and heart emoji.