UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping sees a path to victory for Darren Till.
This weekend Darren Till was submitted by Derek Brunson in the main event of UFC Vegas 36. That loss gave Till a 1-4 record in his last five fights. Those losses include a submission to Tyron Woodley, KO to Jorge Masvidal and a unanimous decision to Robert Whittaker. Till’s lone win in that span is a split decision victory over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 244 in 2019.
Prior to that run Till was 17-0-1 in his career with notable UFC wins over Stephen Thompson and Donald Cerrone.
After his most recent loss Till shared images of Michael Bisping and Charles Oliveira, two fighters who had plenty of bumps along their roads to becoming UFC champions.
And Bisping himself has offered Till some advice on how he might be able to change his fortunes and get back to winning ways, He told BT Sport that, among other things, a move bacl to welterweight might benefit the Liverpudlian.
“I think perhaps a move back down to welterweight (is what he needs),” said Bisping (ht MMA Junkie). “When you look at Derek Brunson compared to him, Derek Brunson is a much bigger guy. I’m not talking height-wise. Height-wise, they’re very similar. But when you look at the frame – and with the frame and with that muscle, comes a lot of strength – certainly when you’re fighting guys like Derek Brunson when their whole M.O. is to take you down. Of course, technique comes into play. But a lot of what comes into play is strength. Once you get into these clinch positions … it comes down to power, and Derek kind of outmuscled him in those situations, as well.”
Bisping added that he thinks Till needs to sharpen his ground-game a little, but said that his fellow Englishman has plenty of time to do that being that he is only 28-years-old.
Till entered the UFC as welterweight in 2015. He won his promotional debut with a KO of Wendell de Oliveira. He then had a Fight of the Night draw with Nicolas Dalby. Two unanimous decision wins, over Jessin Ayari and Bojan Velickovic, followed.
In 2017 Till scored his first UFC main event opposite Cerrone. He won that bout by TKO. He beat Thompson by unanimous decision the following year. Those wins earned him a title shot against Woodley at UFC 228.
After losing to Woodley, and then Masvidal, Till moved up to middleweight in 2019. During his time at welterweight he missed weight on two occasions.