Former UFC welterweight title challenger, Darren ‘The Gorilla’ Till has come to the defence of incumbent middleweight best, Israel ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya’s professional record — following a recent jab from streaking contender, Uriah ‘Prime Time’ Hall.
Scheduled to make his Octagon return on April 10 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the UFC Apex — Liverpool striker, Till hopes to return to the middleweight win column as he clashes with surging Italian talent, Marvin ‘The Italian Dream’ Vettori.
Expected to take co-main event honours at UFC 258 next weekend also in ‘Sin City’, Spanish Town native, Hall saw his high-stakes pairing against former division champion, Chris ‘The All American’ Weidman shelved after the former titleholder returned a positive test for the novel coronavirus. Slated for rescheduling, the pairing is tentatively targeted to move to a UFC 261 pay-per-view event on April 24 — with a venue in Singapore likely to host the event.
Speaking with MMA Fighting reporter, Mike Heck prior to his matchup with Weidman, The Ultimate Fighter 17 finalist, Hall touched on the record of Adesanya, claiming the City Kickboxing standout “picks” fights, before detailing how he hopes to stand opposite him one day.
“He’s (Israel Adesanya) picking fights, and maybe he has the leverage,” Hall said. “But maybe (I’m thinking that) because I want to fight him so bad. I really want to fight him.“
In response to Hall’s claims, Till took to his official Twitter account, now going by the moniker ‘Karen Till’ after his recent run-in with Liverpool police regarding his face mask exemption, the Team Kaobon mainstay praised Hall’s ability, but denounced the latter’s claims that Adesanya has picked his opponents.
“As much as I think Uriah Hall is a tough fight for Adelasagne (Israel Adesanya), in fact, for anyone in the division. Adelasagne ain’t picking his opponents. He’s fought all killers. Just my opinion.“
Slated to headline UFC 259 in March, Adesanya makes the leap to the light heavyweight ranks as he attempts to become a two-weight world champion held simultaneously in a showdown against 205-pound pack leader, Jan Blachowicz.
Since assuming the middleweight throne back in October of 2019 with a title unification win over Robert Whittaker, Adesanya has lodged two successful title defences. Headlining UFC 248 in March last, the Nigerian-Kiwi took home a forgettable unanimous decision win over recent Bellator MMA mover, Yoel Romero.
Drawing the then-undefeated Paulo Costa in the main event of UFC 253 in October last, Adesanya finished the Belo Horizonte native with second-round strikes in a completely one-sided victory.