Payton Talbott and Frank Ocean. (Getty)
Ultimate Fighting Championship star Payton Talbott has responded to speculation that he’s in a relationship with singer Frank Ocean.
The mixed martial artist star and the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter have been linked for the past year. Rumours began circulating after they appeared on each other’s social media accounts, as well as in the wake of a short video Talbott posted on YouTube featuring Ocean’s unreleased song, “Diary.”
Ocean also in the crowd when Talbott took on Raoni Barcelos in January. “Gotta cook tonight,” the singer wrote on Instagram.
In an interview with The New York Times on Sunday (24 August), Talbott refused to discuss his sexuality or the rumours of a romance. “Who I’m trying to have sex with is none of your business, unless I’m trying to have sex with you,” he said.
And the bantamweight had a stinging rebuke for members of the UFC fan base who have criticised him for wearing crop tops, and pole dancing in videos, deeming them not “masculine” enough.
“Why do I have to be manly? Why does my image and what I wear have anything to do with my fighting,” he asked. “Even if it did, what do you care?”
He also offered an insight into his thinking, saying he felt a need to balance his fighting career. “The stronger I felt, I also felt I needed to feminise myself when appropriate. It’s just a subconscious thing.
“I don’t feel I owe anyone anything. I’m just going to try to be myself, and the people who get it will get it.”
The star has previously commented on his friendship with Ocean, telling Low Kick MMA: “We hung out a couple times and just had a lot of appreciation for each other in our respective careers. It was kind of strange and unexpected at first but after meeting him, he’s just a normal person, very special and gifted, but just a person. He’s not a fight fan. The universe just connects people.”
Ocean hasn’t released an album since Blonde, nine years ago. However, in May, fans thought they’d been given their first tease of new music from the “Lost” singer.
Posterswere spotted around Tokyo which simply read “Frank”, alongside a QR code. That led to the Instagram account @franciswupperman, the real name one of the stars of the classic movieThe Wizard of Oz.
The account at the time followed only Ocean.
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