If it wasn’t clear enough, there is plenty of mutual respect between UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Darren Till.
Adesanya is coming off an impressive second-round TKO win over Paulo Costa at UFC 253 last month and drew plaudits from many in the mixed martial arts world for his striking display — Till included, who hopes to face “The Last Stylebender” one day.
“I know when the time comes I’m going to beat Israel Adesanya,” Till said. “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.”
Now Adesanya has returned the favour by praising Till’s own striking.
“I love striking, and I love the way he strikes,” Adesanya told MMA Junkie. “Very basic Muay Thai, and I mean that with all respect, but also his clinch game and his elbow game is advanced, but he sticks to his basic Muay Thai. His left kick, his left straight, the way he curves his left. Beautiful to watch and yeah I take inspiration from a guy like that just in a way who he is. ‘I don’t care, I don’t give an (expletive).’ That’s Darren Till. I take inspiration from that like yeah, don’t give an (expletive).
“When he fought [Kelvin] Gastelum, it was (at UFC) 244 in New York, I think I was there live, he fought him and he said he didn’t care if he got knocked out and I was like that’s a dangerous man. I took inspiration from that because in my fight here as well, I’ve said I surrendered, I didn’t really care what happened after the fight. All I cared about was the fight and me staying true to myself and my style and not playing it too safe, but also not going too wild, but being balanced and being true to myself.”
Many have been eager to see Adesanya and Till go at it inside the Octagon and not only because of the memes they have shared with each other in the past.
And it could be a reality soon, especially if Till gets past Jack Hermansson who he faces in a Fight Night headliner on December 5. The Liverpool native is coming off a close-fought unanimous decision defeat to former champion Robert Whittaker.
Do you think we’ll see Adesanya vs. Till in the future? Who wins?