UFC Middleweight Darren Till
Now let’s get personal and talk about favorite fighters. I know opinions are like mixtapes – you don’t want to hear mine, but I promise you, unlike the boy in 9th grade, mine is good.
Darren Till is a 6′ 1″ MMA fighter in the UFC’s Middleweight Division. He holds a professional record of 18 wins and two losses and ranked 5th in the middleweight rankings.
Till has a somewhat turbulent past. He grew up in Liverpool, England to Scottish parents. He started training Muay Thai at the age of twelve and had his first professional fight at the age of 15. When Darren turned 17, he decided to take his talents to Team Kaobon under the watchful eye of Collin Heron. A few months before his 18th birthday, Darren was involved in a brawl at a club in Liverpool, stabbed twice, and nearly lost his life. At the behest of his coach, Darren was shipped off to Brazil to train with Astra Fight Team.
New Life – New Darren Till
Darren was 18, 5,000 miles away from home, in a country he had never been before and surrounded by a language he didn’t speak – his only option was to adapt. Darren’s coach didn’t just send his most prized fighter to train with anyone while in Brazil, Collin sent Collin sent Darren to train with Kaobon’s former Luta Livre coach, Marcelo Brigadiero at Astra Fight Team. Darren spent a total of three years training under Brigadiero.
Under Marcelo, Darren started his amateur career in Brazil racking up an undefeated record of 3-0. During his professional career in Brazil Darren extended in unbeaten record to 11-0.
Till’s fierce brutal-style finishing style caught the eye of the UFC and his first introduction to the UFC was against Brazillian Wendell de Oliveira on nine days’ notice at UFC Fight Night 67 in May 2015 in Goiania, Brazil. Till secured the win by raining down elbows on de Oliveira in the second round and knocked him out.
Till ended up staying in Brazil for three and a half years. He met the mother of his first child, who he has tattooed on his left arm, and became fluent in Portuguese.
Rising Star
The Gorrilla was on a rocket propelling him to the welterweight championship when he fought the OG of the division, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC Fight Night 118 via TKO in the first round. This win earned him his first ever Performance of the Night bonus and one step closer to his goal of becoming the next Welterweight Champion.
Till’s next challenge was against UFC’s golden boy Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson headlining UFC Fight Night 130 in his hometown of Liverpool, England in May 2018. The event started out on a sour note when Darren weight 3.5 pounds over the 171lb welterweight limit. After deliberation and negotiation between the two teams, a compromise was reached, and the bout would be held at a catchweight of 174.5 pounds with a stipulation that Darren couldn’t weigh more than 188lbs at the day of the fight. Till pulled out the win via unanimous decision in a hard-fought, brutal scrap that would earn him the opportunity to achieve greatness, fight the raining welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley.
Woodley would hand Till his first professional loss via d’arce choke in the second round of UFC 228 in September 2018. Till’s luck didn’t improve with his next challenge of Jorge Masvidal at UFC Fight Night 147 in March 2019. Jorge knocked Till out in the second round.
A Come Back
Till took a year and half off before he deiced to listen to his body, coaches, and fans and move up to the Middleweight division. Darren’s revival would come against middleweight beast Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 244 in November 2019. He would win via split decision.
Darren Till Fighting Style
Enjoys psychological battle – make then flinch. Great judge of distance. Loves to use the distance and getting hit with punches that aren’t using full range to show his toughness.Darren’s defensive game in his bout with Kelvin fight was immense. Criminally underrated that the fact that Gastelum, for the first time I can remember, literally could not hit someone clean. Almost every strike was either blocked or Till rolled with it. I was so immeasurably impressed with the improvements in Darren’s game. His ability to defense improve tremendously after since his fight with Stephen Thompson, something I didn’t think was possible. My favorite part of the fight is the technical aspect and although there are more technical fighters than Darren, his one punch knockout ability makes him my favorite fighter in the UFC.
Be sure to check back in with matmartial.com for much more from MMAnna. And check out our other posts on MMA and Jiu-Jitsu. Enjoy the fights!
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