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“I think he’s probably an easier fight for me than Rob because we’d probably have a great striking battle.”
They’ll be no title shot for Darren Till following his unanimous decision loss to former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in the UFC on ESPN 14 main event last night.
Till fought a competitive fight but ultimately fell short on the judges’ scorecards, with reigning middleweight champ Israel Adesanya praising ‘The Gorilla’ for his ‘beautiful’ striking.
I still wanna fight Till one day.
His striking is beautiful.
Stay up Darren!— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) July 26, 2020
“I still wanna fight Till one day. His striking is beautiful. Stay up Darren!” Adesanya posted on Twitter.
Till got word of Adesanya’s comments at the UFC on ESPN 14 post-fight press conference and, although he respects Adesanya as a champion, the Liverpudlian believes ‘The Last Stylebender’ is actually an easier matchup for him than Whittaker.
“I’m going to have to lay off him for a while,” Till said, per MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn and John Morgan. “All I do is scream at him in Instagram messages. I’ve got a lot of respect for Israel. I think he’s a great fight. But you know what, this is no disrespect for him, but I think he’s probably an easier fight for me than Rob because we’d probably have a great striking battle.
“Rob’s a bit different because he mixes it up. Israel’s the champ, he’s a great MMA fighter, but he’s a pure striker. I think we’d have a great fight. Rob mixed it up a little bit. He’s wild. … (Adesanya and I are) going to fight. I’ll come back, I’ll knock someone out, and we’ll fight.”
Till is thought to have suffered a knee injury against Whittaker and is expected to be out of action for the foreseeable future.