Darren Till wasn’t exactly serious when he said he doesn’t care about his family.
Surging contender Darren Till stirred up some controversy earlier this week when he said he cares more about winning the UFC welterweight title than his pregnant girlfriend and daughter.
“You can’t have worries outside of this game,” Till told reporters. “I’ve got a girlfriend who’s seven months pregnant, I don’t really care. I’ve got a daughter in Brazil who I haven’t seen for a year, I don’t really care. I just care about legacy and greatness. That’s what I’m in this for.”
Several fans and reporters were caught by surprise by Till’s comments, but the Liverpudlian says he was trying to express just how focused he is on winning the welterweight title at UFC 228 and that his girlfriend took no offense.
In fact, she found it rather amusing.
“Me girlfriend and me daughter, they know what’s what and she was right next to me when I was giving that interview and she was laughing,” Till said on a recent episode of the Obviously Fight Talk podcast, per MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew. Some people just need to stop trying to be offended. All right, it might have come out as if I don’t give two s**ts but right now, it’s all about me until eighth of September. I have to be selfish enough. And after the fight, everyone knows, downtime, holidays, going to see me daughter. It’s just people wanting to be offended.”
Till has also come under fire in the past, with online critics claiming that the 25-year-old bullied his training partner in a sparring session he recorded earlier this year.
Till believes his critics are ‘online trolls’ who are intentionally looking to blow things out of proportion to damage his reputation.
“People just don’t know [what it takes to be an elite fighter],” he said. “In five week’s time, all my life’s work will have led up to that one moment. 15 years in the making. I couldn’t have got here without being selfish. I’m working so hard and I’ve had bumps in the road and there were many days where I didn’t – there were some days I couldn’t eat – because I just gave me whole life to this fight and now it’s paying off. People just don’t understand how it works, high level fighting. They look for any opportunity to be offended. It’s just online trolls who just haven’t got a clue.”
Till, who is undefeated after 18 professional fights, will challenge reigning welterweight champion Tyron Woodley at UFC 228. The pay-per-view extravaganza takes place next month, September 8 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.