Middleweight contender Darren Till has vowed to beat 185lb king Israel Adesanya when the time comes.
The Englishman currently has some work to do after losing three of his last four fights. Most recently Till dropped a decision to former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in July. He will look to re-establish himself as a force to be reckoned with when he takes on Jack Hermansson later this year. Eventually, he believes it’ll be ‘The Gorilla’ who with dethrone Adesanya who is fresh off another impressive title defence at UFC 253.
“I know when the time comes I’m going to beat Israel Adesanya,” Till told MMA Junkie. “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.”
Adesanya is currently embroiled in several bitter feuds with the likes of Jon Jones, Paulo Costa and Chris Weidman but Till insists he will never become riled by the champions antics.
“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.”
Do you think Darren Till could beat Israel Adesanya?