Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight attraction Darren Till (18-4-1) wants to get back into the win column at the expense of streaking 185-pound standout Sean Strickland, ranked one spot above “The Gorilla” at No. 7.
Request denied.
“Instagram blocked me,” Strickland wrote on Twitter. “I joked about a pedophile dying and I guess they didn’t like it lol!!!! Anyways I’m not fighting Darren Till. I want [Paulo] Costa and if Costa can’t put down the wine and cookies I want Jack [Hermansson].”
Costa (13-2) failed to make weight for his recent loss to Marvin Vettori.
From a rankings perspective, all three of the aforementioned opponents make sense, as Costa and Hermansson occupy the No. 5 and No. 6 spots, respectively. That said, you can make the argument that Till’s current slump does not justify the booking.
That’s for matchmakers to decide.
Strickland (24-3), who turns 31 in February, is the winner of five straight, including last July’s unanimous decision victory over Uriah Hall on ESPN. Hermansson (22-6), meanwhile, got back into the win column by shutting down Edmen Shahbazyan last May.