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Welcome to Midnight Mania!
Darren Till and cutting weight have a complicated relationship.
Problems first arose in Till’s third UFC fight way back in 2017, when he missed the 170-pound limit by by a whopping six pounds opposite Jessin Ayari. A year later, the situation grew more severe, as Till lost vision while cutting weight for his UFC Liverpool main event versus Stephen Thompson. Till would compete at Welterweight twice more after the “Wonderboy” scrap, but consecutive losses would send him up to Middleweight.
Till never failed to make weight in his four 185-pound UFC bouts, so it stands to reason that he shouldn’t have an issue making 190-pounds in his professional boxing debut opposite Tommy Fury. That match is scheduled for a Misfits Boxing event on Sat., Jan. 18, 2025 from Manchester, United Kingdom, meaning it’s a few days shy of nine weeks away.
That’s plenty of time for a training camp, but Till revealed some serious weight gain at the press conference. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on Wednesday (Nov. 20, 2024), Till revealed he’s ballooned up to 253 pounds. In summary, he has roughly 8.5 weeks to cut a massive 63 pounds.
| Darren Till tells @arielhelwani he current weighs 253 lbs, nine weeks out from his January 18th boxing match with Tommy Fury. ?? pic.twitter.com/AjW7pmAlNZ
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) November 20, 2024
I’m hoping for Till’s sake he stepped onto the scale wearing jeans immediately after a salty meal, because that’s a significant amount of weight to drop! It can be done, but it’s very important that Till goes about it correctly and works with a skilled team. Botched weight cuts have killed fighters, and earlier this year, a Bellator athlete was induced into a coma after severe dehydration during her weight cut.
Insomnia
This is a great match up. Grant Dawson has looked really sharp in his last couple wins, but Carlos Diego Ferreira has made a career as an excellent spoiler.
Grant Dawson will fight Carlos Diego Ferreira at #UFC311 on January 18th. (first rep. @DavidVanAuken) #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN #UFC2025 pic.twitter.com/aDEpEXYZ25
— Marcel Dorff (@BigMarcel24) November 21, 2024
Out with the old guard, in with the new. Add Joaquin Buckley to this list!
It’s obvious that Welterweight division will be the best division in the years to come pic.twitter.com/TFcABEbMNq
— Pollmma (@poll_mma) November 20, 2024
RIP Bellator?
Bellator New Year’s Eve event has disappeared from the Bellator website.
It appears the Bellator brand is being phased out with the multiple event cancellations.
?Bellator Chicago
?Bellator Paris
?Bellator Japan https://t.co/Sdkl2ZmbqL— COMBAT SPORTS TODAY (@CSTodayNews) November 21, 2024
Two overhand rights you do NOT want to be hit by!
Justin Gaethe and Diego Lopes hitting the punch machine
Gaethje was not going to lose to a 145lber again! pic.twitter.com/TV6V3l3uLD
— The Fight Bubble (@thefightbubble) November 21, 2024
Petr Yan is living up to the “No Mercy” moniker with the bare knuckle liver shot.
Former UFC champion Petr Yan spends his time beating up the Chinese while waiting for his fight with Deiveson Figueiredo in Macau. This MMA journalist got a liver shot from Petr. pic.twitter.com/Jrjn4TKTm9
— Pam (@ParamPam1990) November 21, 2024
Deiveson Figueiredo has worked a lot on his wrestling to be successful up at 135-pounds, and it shows!
Deiveson Figueiredo wrestling with young Kazakh fighter Idris Idrissov pic.twitter.com/9cbRArt180
— schwick (@schwick6) November 20, 2024
Roman Dolidze wants to get back in the cage, and all of these potential match ups sound worthy.
I wanted to fight Reinier de Ridder, didn’t happened !
Bo Nical , he is quiet , maybe Shara Bullet ???
Nothing against these guys, Im just interested in a good fight, and good opponent! ?— Roman Dolidze (@romandolidzeufc) November 21, 2024
Even with a shin guard on … BRUTAL!
??DEAD LEG CHALLENGE??
With @eddiehallWSM pic.twitter.com/qTzUJZS0yD— Rico Verhoeven (@RicoVerhoeven) November 20, 2024
Slips, rips, and KO clips
A lovely highlight showing off Yuki Yoza’s creative brilliance:
Yuki Yoza is too smooth pic.twitter.com/BBeOxYuEeU
— Tetsuya (@TetsuyaMT789) November 20, 2024
A textbook inside heel hook:
Philippines could have a new star in MMA. And one very accomplished on the ground for a change.
Eros Baluyot, a two time IBJJF world champion, tapped Changy Kara-Ool instantly with a heel hook as soon as the fight went to the ground.#ONEFridayFights87 pic.twitter.com/a6Nde85nu8
— Nick Atkin (@nicatkinONE) November 15, 2024
This one probably could’ve been called after the first knockdown …
Look at this INSANE flying teep #Yokkao #muaythai #fight pic.twitter.com/0kI54340gz
— YOKKAO (@yokkaoboxing) November 14, 2024
Random Land
Big money landslide.
DR Congo : Huge amounts of copper discovered after mountain collapse in Katanga. pic.twitter.com/PtLiJEJm0d
— African News feed. (@africansinnews) November 15, 2024
Midnight Music: New Wave, 1983
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.