Middleweight contender Darren Till is considering a drop back down to welterweight, the division where he has spent the majority of his fight career. Till moved up in weight after suffering back-to-back losses at 170lbs. The Englishman failed in his title bid against former champion Tyron Woodley and then got knocked out cold when he fought Jorge Masvidal at UFC London.
Till made no secret about his struggles to make the welterweight limit throughout this UFC career. The 27-year-old has twice missed weight since joining the promotion in 2015, most notably when he came in 3.5lbs overweight for his main event matchup against Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson at UFC Liverpool.
Speaking to ESPN after his most recent loss to Robert Whittaker, ‘The Gorilla’ revealed he is not done with the welterweight division and is more than capable of making 170lbs, he said.
“No [I’m not done at 170], because I didn’t even cut weight to make 185 mate. I didn’t cut no weight, no. But, as I said I am a walking f*****g contradiction. Fight week for 170 I’m walking in at like 280 pounds [laughs]. Fight week for 185, I’m walking in lighter than what I used to fight at, at welterweight. That doesn’t make any sense. Colin is watching this looking at me like you are a f*****g wanker Darren. It doesn’t make any sense, fight week in Abu Dhabi I was just walking around like 87, 88 kilo. The fight day with Whittaker I was going to my coach, I haven’t put on any weight.
“Usually, guys re-hydrate and I did re-hydrate with the UFC PI but I put like 2-3 kilos on, it was mental. I wasn’t bothered, I was healthy, I didn’t cut no weight,” he continued. “It was like Darren when you used to fight at welterweight you would be coming in at 90 kilos on fight week cutting 13 kilos. Now, you are coming in lighter for middleweight what is wrong with you man? That is just me.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)
Do you think Darren Till should return to the welterweight division?