The hour is almost here and rising welterweight Darren Till will take on reigning champion Tyron Woodley in the main event of tonight’s (Sat., September 8, 2018) UFC 228 from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
Surprisingly enough, Till is the betting favorite over Woodley, who has defended his belt three times but has been out of action since a highly-criticized decision over Demian Maia at UFC 214 last year. Most thought Till’s biggest challenge would be making weight, something he did by a safe margin yesterday morning.
But while the hulking soon-to-be-middleweight is certainly a tough challenge for “The Chosen One,” many still question just why Woodley is the underdog. Till narrowly beat Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in a very controversial decision at May’s UFC Liverpool, a win that was hardly a convincing case for him to be favored over Woodley.
Some believe Till’s striking-based style could be put to the test by former NCAA wrestler Woodley, who has himself gone away from his mat skills in years past. The champ has favored his own knockout striking for several years, but may have to go for a takedown to nullify the powerful Till. If he does, the challenger is ready. Till revealed he is quite confident in his wrestling skills, even so much that he doesn’t give himself enough credit (via MMA News):
“I’m confident. I’m a good wrestler. I don’t give myself a lot of credit for how good of a wrestler I am, like, defensively and offensively. Before I got in the UFC, I actually fought some good wrestlers. I fought a guy in Argentina. He had been to the Olympics, Greco wrestler. You know, I’m going to fight this wrestling OK.”
Till has the obvious size advantage plating in his favor, yet Woodley’s unparalleled speed, athleticism, and power can’t be denied. “The Chosen One” hasn’t exactly blown the roof off the house in his last three fights, but he has made it look his opponents could do precious little against him offensively.
The young Liverpudlian is confident he can find holes in Woodley’s game. In his mind, his all-around game is better than the champ’s:
“I’m extremely confident that we all have holes in our game,” Till said. “People ask me, you know, some fighters they say I just know I’m going to win because my all around game is better. If you wear it like that, coming to a fight.
“Say a fighter has his strengths and has his weaknesses, Tyron has his strengths over me and I have my strengths over him. And that’s how the fight is going to play out. Just strengths to weaknesses. So I’m extremely confident with my wrestling offensively and defensively.”
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