Till had been set to fight Marvin Vettori in the main event of UFC Vegas 23.
While Darren Till charged his way into the UFC title picture back in 2018, behind an unbeaten 17-0-1 record, the years since haven’t been nearly so prosperous nor consistent. Till lost his title fight to then-champion Tyron Woodley by submission, only to come back six months later and get knocked out be Jorge Masvidal.
A move up to middleweight eight months afterward resulted in a less than thrilling split decision win over Kelvin Gastelum, but was quickly followed by a loss to former champion Robert Whittaker in July of last year. A planned bout against Jack Hermansson, for December, was iced due to a Till’s slower than expected recovery from a knee injury.
Still, the fighter out of Team Kaobon in Liverpool found himself in the potential title conversation once again with a top contender’s bout against Marvin Vettori, set for April 10th at UFC Vegas 23. Unfortunately, that too has now fallen by the wayside, with the news that Till has been forced from the bout due to a broken collarbone. Till confirmed the reports in a post to his Instagram.
I’ve been sat here for a good few hours debating how to say this & put into words what I’m feeling & just going to say it straight… IVE BROKEN MY COLLARBONE!
I’m out my fight next week against Marvin.
Every person who is around me or who has been around me knows I train on a daily basis with fucked up knees, lower back, shoulders, hands and the list goes on.
Yesterday while drilling I fell and straight away I knew I’d broken something.
To say I’m fucking destroyed by it is an understatement.
I’ve literally put my heart, soul, mind, physical body, cash, nutrition, sleep, recovery & then some into making sure I went out there next week & took his head off. And I was 100% sure I was going to… and with ease!!!
I’m sure he was thinking the same but ahh well…
Till even added an apology to Vettori, with hopes that the ‘Italian Dream’ can find a new opponent to face in the main event spot of the ABC televised fight card. “Mark my words I will do anything and everything to become Middleweight world champion,” Till concluded.
No official word on a new opponent for Vettori, although reports are that Kevin Holland has accepted an offer to take the fight and is currently waiting on Vettori to sign a contract for the bout.