To get his “mojo” back, Anthony Smith says Darren Till needs to accept a fight with a low-ranking opponent. According to Smith, an easier opponent could be just what he needs to shake his losing streak.
Darren Till is 1-5 in his last six, marking a rocky road for the once top-tier UK prospect. Till final saw combat at UFC 282 against Dricus Du Plessis, where Du Plessis would submit him in the third round. Till has dropped three straight losses, and his lone victory against Kelvin Gastelum could have gone either way.
People have asked the ‘Gorilla’ about thoughts of retirement, but it’s a subject he’s ruled out. According to Darren Till, he still has more fights left and is eager to grace the cage again in 2023.
Anthony Smith warns Darren Till about his strength in competition
Here enters: Anthony Smith. The man who has had his fair share of tough losses and a few losing streaks. According to Smith on the Believe You Me podcast, he believes the future success of Till depends on his strength of competition. At least, until he gets his “mojo back”.
“What does he do now? He’s got to, and he’s not gonna want to, but he’s gonna have to back way up, and he’s gonna have to give someone way down in the rankings an opportunity,” Smith declared (H/T Bloody Elbow). “Which he doesn’t want to do. He doesn’t want to do that because he wants to continue to climb. He wants to swing for the fences and get his spot back and look ahead.”
“…I think the best case scenario for him is to drop way down and give one of these up-and-comers, these young guys, these unknowns, give them an opportunity to face a big-name guy that holds a decent spot in the rankings and hope that you can use that step down in competition as an opportunity to get your mojo back. The flip side of that is you drop one to one of those guys, you’ve got a big f—ing problem.”
According to Dana White, despite the losing streak, he believes Till’s stock has not dropped a bit: “I mean, that’s ‘Fight of the Night,’” Dana White said. “I don’t think his stock drops at all. If he would have went out there and got destroyed in the first round like it looked like it was gonna happen, but he did the exact opposite. He weathered that storm, stayed out of submissions, then he comes back, and you think he’s gonna win the fight. I thought it was an awesome fight. That’s why it was ‘Fight of the Night,’ and I don’t think his stock dropped at all.”