On November 2, Darren Till will be making his middleweight debut against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 244 which takes place in Madison Square Garden, New York.
The decision to move up a weight class comes off the back of two straight losses at welterweight where Till was submitted by then-champion Tyron Woodley and knocked out by Jorge Masvidal earlier this year at UFC London. But it wasn’t just those losses that contributed to the move up, but also the rough weight cut.
Till has always struggled with making 170 pounds, but at least the process is much easier now that he doesn’t have to cut an extra 15 pounds. And if the Liverpool native has a successful outing against Gastelum, he will likely remain there for good.
The bad news is that means we won’t see him compete with a number of welterweights.
However, Till is not ruling that out completely as he still believes he has unfinished business in the division. Colby Covington — who he has gone back-and-forth with in the past — is not one of them, however.
“Not really, me and him, we had a little bit of chatter but never really crossed paths,” Till said in a recent media scrum. “I feel like he’s on a totally different path. I feel like that fight with [Kamaru] Usman was always a fight I wanted. As much as a lot of people tried to avoid him, that was a fight I wanted to get. Obviously with him being the champ now.
“Never say never but Masvidal — maybe I can get back at him. By the time I’ve gone through all I’m going through now, Woodley will probably be retired. I don’t see him staying around much longer. But yeah, there’s a few I have unfinished business with.”
As for the welterweight division, Usman will be defending his title against Covington in the main event of UFC 245 in December. Till feels “The Nigerian Nightmare” will edge things out but is not counting out Covington, who he surprisingly praised as a terrific fighter.
“I think if you put them both together, they’re the same fighter,” Till said. “I think Usman has got everything that Colby has, just a bit better. Think he’s got more power. I don’t know who’s got the bigger gas tank. I know Colby’s got an unbelievable gas tank. Usman just edges it.
“But when I look at what he did to [Robbie] Lawler, many said Lawler wasn’t the same. But I don’t feel like that. I feel like Colby was too much for Lawler. Because people hate Colby so much and take what he says so personal, they just want Usman to win. They’re not looking at Colby. Colby’s an actually terrific fighter. Forget all the fucking bullshit he says because he’s just an idiot. He’s actually a terrific fighter.”