He’s a big boy.
Darren Till is bigger than most welterweights and he admits that it’s almost unfair that he is allowed to share the Octagon with natural 170lbers given his significant size advantage.
Till entered the official UFC rankings for the first time with his stunning first round TKO victory over Donald Cerrone in the main event of UFC Gdansk last weekend and, all of a sudden, he’s being touted as ‘The Future’ by UFC President Dana White.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bah_ylmB7FV/?hl=en&taken-by=danawhite
Till dwarfed Cerrone and while his power ultimately shattered the nose of ‘Cowboy’, it was the gulf in striking technique which told the true story of the bout.
Liverpool’s Till extended his undefeated record to 16-0-1 with the victory and cemented his status as the most exciting MMA prospect to emerge from Britain in years.
UFC Gdansk: @darrentill2 knocks out Donald Cerrone in the 1st round. pic.twitter.com/v5TagHh1tk
— MMA (@TheMMAPosts) October 22, 2017
And while he seems transfixed on working his way up the welterweight ladder for the time-being, it is only a matter of time before the 24-year-old moves up in weight, considering how big he really is.
During an interview on the MMA Hour this week, Till was asked how much he weighed come fight night and he stunned host Ariel Helwani with his answer.
“About 200lbs,” Till said.
con·fi·dent
ˈkänfədənt/ adjective1. feeling or showing confidence in oneself
Synonyms: @DarrenTill2 pic.twitter.com/5APCwAX6to— UFC (@ufc) October 23, 2017
“I ain’t no welterweight. I’m a light heavyweight in the welterweight division. It should be illegal, what I’m doing.
“The UFC should ban it but they can’t because I do it naturally and I do it professionally, and no one can do a fucking thing about it.”
30lbs of rehydration in 24 hours seems ludicrous and what’s even more unfathomable is the weight cut that Till put himself through during fight week.
But ‘The Gorilla’ insists that he had no difficulty making weight.
“It was easy,” he said. “The week of the fight, Ariel, I see every other fighter moping about, doing 20 minutes on the treadmill and jumping off, saying it’s because they’re tired.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BahyaSzBO74/?hl=en&taken-by=cowboycerrone
“The week of the fight, Ariel, I was still training three hours a day. I was training in the morning, I was training at night, I was cutting that weight.
“My coach is the best coach in the world. He’s so scientific. He keeps me dry. That’s how I made the weight. I didn’t have to sauna this time.”
