Darren Till has had one of the most electric rises in the sport of MMA. However, at the same time, his downfall had come equally as fast. Despite being labeled as one of the best English prospects, the former title challenger finds himself struggling to get back to fighting ways.
For those unaware, Darren ‘The Gorilla’ Till was one of the UFC’s hottest new stars. Following a long list of KOs and finishes in regional promotions, Till made his way into the UFC in 2015. After a few wins, Till was fast-tracked to superstardom with a win against Donal Cerrone. Thereafter, he would go on to win a decision against Stephen Thompson before fighting Tyron Woodley for the welterweight title at UFC 228.
Despite losing, Darren Till was only 25 at the time and had a lot of potential. However, subsequent losses saw him move up to middleweight where he struggled to find any real success. Owing to a career rife with injuries, the Englishman went 1-3 in his last four fights before eventually parting ways with the UFC. However, as he now reveals, all was not as it seemed with his departure.
Darren Till opens up on his injuries and UFC exit
For the most part, the general consensus, owing to numerous reports at the time was that the UFC had let Darren Till go. Seeing that he had struggled massively with injury problems and more, many assumed that the promotion finally decided to cut ties with the Englishman. However, as Till reveals, he was the one who asked the UFC to release him.
In a recent appearance on the Ben Heath Podcast, Darren spoke about leaving the UFC in detail:
“I remember I spoke to the UFC and Dana and I was like, ‘Listen, this isn’t sort of going to plan at the moment, I’m suffering bad with injuries and I’m taking stupid fights, that I shouldn’t be taking’.
“I was like give me time off of the UFC now, and to this day I can only think of one, two, or three who they have actually released from a contract like that, they don’t just regularly do that. I went about it the right ways, the right avenues, like listen, I’m not gonna sign with another MMA organization, I’m gonna give me body time.
“I said in a few years I’ll be back if yous will have me and they were like, ‘Till, the door is always open, we think you’re a standup guy, we love ya. You’re a great guy for the company'”.
As the fighter reveals, he asked to be released from the promotion in order to fully focus on recovery and rehabilitation. Notably, Darren Till had problems with his knee which required him to undergo stem cell therapy as well. Thus, due to these problems and recurring injuries, the fighter opted to put his MMA career on hold. With that said, he hasn’t completely wiped his hands off of combat sports yet.
Darren Till hints at big fight news and future plans in boxing
All things considered, Darren Till hopes to make his return to the UFC in a few years’ time. Meanwhile, he is looking to stay active and try to once again raise his depreciating stocks. Previously, Till had revealed his intentions to pursue boxing, seeing that he made a name for himself as a proficient striker in the UFC. As such, we’d also heard of numerous rumors regarding a potential matchup.
Speaking in the same interview, Till had some very interesting things to share. Whilst he was linked to a boxing match against Magomed Ismailov, the fight did not transpire. Instead, as the 31-year-old reveals, there were other lucrative offers on the table:
“There was a lot of fights offered to me. At one point Logan Paul got offered, Jake Paul stuff like that but, I just wanted to bide me time, get the best offer for me financially, on the best platform, with all in my favor for once”.
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“In just a few weeks, I’m gonna have fight news. It’s gonna be good fight news, I’m gonna fight probably three or four times this year, all in boxing. Hopefully, one or two of them are gonna be really big fights, what people have been waiting for.”
Recently, Mike Perry revealed that Darren Till had seemingly turned down a mega $2 million offer to fight him on a BKFC headliner. That said, it is possible that due to his promise and allegiance to the UFC, Till cannot appear or fight in a rival promotion. In the past, we’ve seen several UFC fighters fight in BKFC. That said, Darren has expressed his interest to fight Perry, but will likely do it with boxing gloves inside the squared boxing ring.