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Darren Till was having some visa issues ahead of his Kelvin Gastelum fight at the upcoming UFC 244 pay-per-view (PPV) event, scheduled for this Sat. night (Nov. 2, 2019) inside Madison Square Garden in New York City.
While early reports indicate those issues have been resolved, “The Gorilla” is not expected to arrive in “The Empire State” until Friday, which is the same day as the weigh ins. Even with a jump up to middleweight, a transatlantic flight could leave him thick and bloated.
As a precautionary measure, UFC officials have asked No. 5 ranked middleweight Jared Cannonier to start cutting weight in case he’s needed to replace Till, first reported by Terez Owens. As you might expect, the promotion is downplaying the travel issues.
But still thought it was necessary to pay Cannonier to play back up.
“Killa Gorilla” is roughly one month removed from his technical knockout win over Jack Hermansson at UFC Copenhagen and has now won three straight at 185 pounds. No question an opportunity here, coupled with a victory, would go a long way in securing Cannonier a future title shot.