Midnight Mania! Is Darren Till Too Big For Even Middleweight?

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Darren Till has been killing himself to make 170 lbs. for years.

Luckily, the 26-year-old Brit seems to have realized the errors of his ways… maybe. Till is moving up to 185 lbs. in his next bout to face Kelvin Gastelum, but there’s little doubt which man will have the size advantage. Till seems to have gained substantial size based on the Instagram posts below:

Based on just how big Till has grown, his coach’s concern about Till’s terrible diet and putting on too much weight is well-founded. Even with the extra 15 lbs., Till likely faces a tough cut ahead of UFC 244.

What is it about the Welterweight division that leads to such bizarre weight situations?

I cannot think of a division that more frequently hosts these issues. The all-time example is, of course, Anthony Johnson, who starved himself terribly to reach 170 lbs. while maintaining a weight above 200 lbs. “Rumble” is now a Heavyweight destroying pads ahead of his return to the cage, but he’s not the only former Welterweight cut way too much.

Thiago Alves, Johnny Hendricks, Kelvin Gastelum — all these Welterweights pushed the boundaries of cutting weight over the years, either in pursuit of a size advantage or because they could not control their diets. Hopefully, Till can follow in the paths of Gastelum and Johnson and find success at a higher weight class without ruining himself on the scale.

Insomnia

“Platinum” is simply the best — watch until the end.

Two greats.

Let this announcement serve as a reminder that the word “professional” is fairly meaningless in combat sports.

Mairbek Taisumov working his wrestling ahead of his UFC 242 bout.

Daniel Cormier knows a little something about using wrestling to set up strikes, and he uses that knowledge to break down how Khabib dropped McGregor last year.

Why is this dude still relaxing anywhere near Bader?

This is an awesome photo from a recent Lethwei bout, but I wonder just what the defending man was attempting to do with his hands? Stills rarely tell the whole story, but something went wrong here!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Don’t see this everyday!

Hard low kicks and lots of clinch work for the Muay Thai fans reading:

Andy Ruiz Jr. became the first Mexican Heavyweight boxing champ when he knocked out Anthony Joshua in a pretty amazing upset. As an unfortunate result, every slightly chubby Mexican dude boxing/fighting will now jokingly be called “Andy Ruiz” for the rest of time — not by me, but I see it happen ALL THE TIME!

Random Land

A master swordsman at work:

Midnight Music: Some music demands to be played loud to be fully appreciated, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience fits that description in my opinion.

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.