One of the best fighters to come out of England in recent years is Darren Till. He made his UFC debut in 2015 against Wendell de Oliveira. However, after 11 fights in the promotion, the company decided to part ways with Till. Although his recent form was nothing to write home about, Till was a bonafide star for the company
Fans were understandably surprised when reports of Darren Till’s UFC release emerged. Many wondered what could have happened behind the scenes, that led to Till’s exit from the company. UFC has a major PPV coming up in Britain with UFC 286 taking place in London. Many would have thought it could have been the perfect card for till to make his comeback after his loss to Dricus du Plessis.
What’s happening everyone,
— Frank Till (@darrentill2) March 1, 2023
Me, Dana & Hunter are still cool as fuck.
I asked UFC 2 remove me just 2 sort some other shit for the foreseeable,
They happily agreed to release me out of contract which I appreciate.
I’m not going anywhere, got big plans to execute & I’ll be back. 🦍
But, Darren Till ended all the speculation on the matter with a tweet. According to Darren, he was the one who requested to be released from his contract. Although the 30-year-old did not specify the reason why he chose to do so, he hinted that there were some personal issues that he needed to address.
Fans recently saw flyweight fighter Askar Askarov asking for his release due to personal reasons too. Ahead of his UFC 282 fight, Darren addressed that he missed his family throughout the fight camp. “The Gorilla” also revealed that he was unable to spend time with his newborn daughter because of the fight camp. Although it is purely speculative, perhaps Till wants to take a break from fighting and spend time with family.
Darren Till lost 5 of his last 6 UFC fights
Aside from personal reasons, a break from action may benefit his career as well. Till’s career has been on a downward spiral since his first pro loss against the former welterweight champ Tyron Woodley at UFC 228. That particular defeat triggered a losing run that saw him lose 5 of his last 6 fights in the UFC. However, Till did beat Kelvin Gastelum on his middleweight debut.
That is the only bright spot in his recent record. Woodley submitted Till, Jorge Masival KO’ed him, Robert Whittaker beat him handily, and both Dricus and Derek Brunson submitted him as well. So, out of his last 5 losses, 4 came via finishes.
So there is clearly an issue that Darren Till needs to address. So perhaps, Till is taking a temporary hiatus to work on his approach toward fighting. Perhaps he will do some more training with his best friend, Khamzat Chimaev.
However, this is definitely not the end of Darren Till in the UFC. As he mentioned, Till has plans to return to the promotion better than ever! But there is no clear timeline of when he may return to action. He currently has an MMA record of 18-5-1.
So when do you think Till will fight again? Let us know in the comments down below.
