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Darren Till talks about Israel Adesanya’s ‘utter masterclass’ against Paulo Costa at UFC 253.
Darren Till has nothing but respect for Israel Adesanya following the middleweight champ’s masterclass performance against Paulo Costa at UFC 253.
‘The Last Stylebender’ picked ‘Borrachinha’ apart with surgical precision before finishing the Brazilian with strikes and ground-and-pound in the second round.
Till was so impressed by Adesanya’s performance that he is using it as inspiration for his upcoming middleweight bout against Jack Hermansson at UFC Fight Night 185 but, make no mistake about it, ‘The Gorilla’ will be ready to dethrone Adesanya when the time comes.
“I know when the time comes I’m going to beat Israel Adesanya,” Till told MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn in a recent interview. “Invite the hate, but (I) cannot take nothing away from that performance: utter masterclass, utter confidence. I can take inspiration from it even though we’re rivals. To be able to do that shows a level of maturity that I can do that. Costa just needs to come back, whatever he needs to do. But it was an utter masterclass.”
Till and Adesanya have a mutual respect towards one another and, despite Adesanya having his fair share of haters inside and outside of the cage, Till admits that he could never find it within himself to truly hate on the reigning, undefeated champion.
“I’m never going to hate him, or any other fighters,” Till said. “I like to think I’m smart enough to know anything they say or do doesn’t affect my feelings. I’m not really sensitive in that way. I can make jokes about myself, I can make jokes about me family. I’ve seen a tweet the other day like, ‘What’s the limit, what’s not the limit?’ For me, I don’t really see people talking about family or other stuff like that. It doesn’t affect me, but I can see how it disrespects other fighters. I’m not really one of them to just hate someone because they said something.
“We’re going to fight, whether they want to fight on the streets or the cage, it’s more sensible in the cage, but I’m not going to hate on that person. I’m not going to hate on Izzy because he’s doing well or because he’s got this or he’s got that. I hate him for the fight. If we’re going to fight, yeah I’ll hate him. As a person, as a human being, if you’re a guy that’s hating, you’ve got some serious problems with yourself inside yourself. I can’t hate on anyone, I hate myself.”
UFC Fight Night 185, which is expected to feature Till vs. Hermansson as the main event, is scheduled to take place on Dec. 5 at a to be determined location.