There is one fight in particular that UFC icon Joe Rogan is extremely hopeful of seeing over the next few months.

With the year drawing to a close, on the face of things, it has been another extremely successful year for the promotion, in what was their first of their new broadcast deal with Paramount.

This coming weekend, the premier promotion returns to Abu Dhabi for UFC 333, and in the co-main event, Petr Yan defends his bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili.

And UFC icon Joe Rogan believes that the result of that fight could end up affecting what he believes could be a ‘gigantic’ fight in the bantamweight division.

Who finishes this bantamweight trilogy on top at UFC 333? 👀

Joe Rogan wants to see Sean O’Malley vs. Payton Talbott

For the past few months, former bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley has been calling for a rematch against ‘No Mercy’ Yan. The American star is banking on the Russian champion successfully defending his title against ‘The Machine’ this weekend to set up for a huge rematch against Yan.

Despite ‘Suga’ Sean holding out for a fight against Yan, O’Malley was called out by Payton Talbott earlier this month following Talbott’s win at UFC 332. And despite the fact that the 31-year-old is continuing to hold out for a title fight, he admitted that if Dvalishvili beats Yan, O’Malley will fight Talbott next.

And that is a fight that Rogan believes could be a ‘gigantic’ fight for the bantamweight division, as he has waxed lyrical over Talbott’s skills. “He f—– up Henry Cejudo and he’s killing people,” Rogan said in a recent episode of his podcast.

“He’s so good, I really hope that fight with him and Suga Sean O’Malley takes place, I really hope that takes place, because I think that is a gigantic fight, and such a good fight on paper. (Talbott) can wrestle, he certainly did with Cejudo, that is a part of his game that just jumped up after his (Raoni) Barcelos fight. When he took Cejudo down I was like, ‘This is madness’, this kid is special, he’s very special, he’s very very unique with his approach to this and he loves this, he loves competing and fighting.

“I understand Sean’s position, though, if I was Sean I would not take that fight right now either because Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili are going to fight and if Petr Yan wins again, the big fight is Yan vs. O’Malley because their last fight was close… The money is there. That’s the fight you want, yeah the Talbott fight would be good for the fans, but that’s not the fight to make right now,” Rogan went on to admit.

‘No Mercy’ Yan continues to entertain the idea of fighting O’Malley again next, considering their first fight in 2022 ended so controversially with a close decision.