Tag: UFC Liverpool

UFC Rankings Update: Darren Till Soars Following Controversial Win

Did Darren Till deserve this massive boost?

The post UFC Rankings Update: Darren Till Soars Following Controversial Win appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Darren Till has completed a massive rise up the rankings, but it’s sure to be controversial.

The 25-year-old future star won a close and controversial unanimous decision over former title contender Stephen Thompson in the main event of last weekend’s (Sun. May 27, 2018) UFC Liverpool, a fight that’s largely dominated recent MMA headlines for its head-scratching result.

It was a bout short on much relevant action following a ton of hype for the UFC’s debut in Liverpool, yet many questioned if Till truly deserved the victory overall, as he lacked many clear moments of offense. Two 49-46 scores in his favor were egregious if we’re honest, and many prominent MMA personalities have weighed in with the same opinion more or less.

However, that apparently doesn’t matter to the media members who vote on the official UFC rankings. Previous No. 8 Till rose a ridiculous six spots to No. 2 on the latest update, jumping him ahead of previous No. 3 Colby Covington, who will meet Rafael dos Anjos for the interim belt at June 9’s UFC 225, following a highly debatable decision in a fight that certainly didn’t deliver on the sizable buzz it brought.

The contentious victory also had a cascading effect on much of the Top 10 at 170 pounds, with Thompson dropping two spots to No. 3, Robbie Lawler dropping two spots to No. 5, Kamaru Usman and Demian Maia dropping one spot apiece to Nos. 6 and 7, respectively, and Jorge Masvidal falling two spots to No. 9. Neil Magny rose one spot to No. 8 for his TKO win against short-notice replacement Craig White in the UFC Liverpool co-main event.

In other rankings movement, the middleweight division saw a decent shakeup after Michael Bisping somewhat surprisingly announced his retirement this week.

Do you agree with Till’s massive rise for his not-so-impressive ‘win’?

Check out the full updated rankings via UFC.com here:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Georges St-Pierre
3 Conor McGregor
3 Stipe Miocic
5 Daniel Cormier
6 Max Holloway
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Khabib Nurmagomedov
10 Cris Cyborg
11 Tony Ferguson
12 Amanda Nunes
13 Robert Whittaker
14 Cody Garbrandt
15 Rose Namajunas

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 John Moraga
7 Wilson Reis
8 Alexandre Pantoja
9 Brandon Moreno
10 Dustin Ortiz
11 Ben Nguyen
12 Matheus Nicolau
13 Tim Elliott
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 John Dodson
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 Bryan Caraway
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Cody Stamann
12 Rob Font
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Brett Johns
15 Eddie Wineland

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Jeremy Stephens
5 Cub Swanson
6 Josh Emmett
7 Ricardo Lamas
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Renato Moicano
10 Darren Elkins
11 Mirsad Bektic
12 Zabit Magomedsharipov
13 Myles Jury
14 Dooho Choi
15 Calvin Kattar

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier
5 Kevin Lee
6 Edson Barboza
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Paul Felder
15 Olivier Aubin-Mercier

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Rafael Dos Anjos +1
2 Darren Till +6
3 Stephen Thompson -2
4 Colby Covington -1
5 Robbie Lawler -2
6 Kamaru Usman -1
7 Demian Maia -1
8 Neil Magny +1
9 Jorge Masvidal -2
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Gunnar Nelson
13 Leon Edwards +1
14 Alex Oliveira -1
15 Dong Hyun Kim

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Chris Weidman
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Jacare Souza
6 Derek Brunson +1
7 David Branch +1
8 Lyoto Machida +1
8 Brad Tavares +1
10 Uriah Hall +1
11 Antonio Carlos Junior +1
12 Thiago Santos
13 Paulo Costa +1
14 Elias Theodorou +1
15 Krzysztof Jotko *NR

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Ilir Latifi
5 Jan Blachowicz
6 Jimi Manuwa
7 Mauricio Rua
7 Ovince Saint Preux
9 Corey Anderson
10 Misha Cirkunov
11 Patrick Cummins
12 Dominick Reyes
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Tyson Pedro
15 Gian Villante

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Alexander Volkov
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Derrick Lewis +1
6 Mark Hunt +1
7 Junior Dos Santos +8
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Andrei Arlovski
10 Aleksei Oleinik
11 Stefan Struve
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Shamil Abdurakhimov
14 Justin Willis
15 Junior Albini *NR

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Tatiana Suarez
10 Cortney Casey
11 Alexa Grasso
12 Randa Markos
13 Nina Ansaroff
14 Joanne Calderwood
15 Angela Hill

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Katlyn Chookagian
6 Barb Honchak
7 Liz Carmouche
8 Roxanne Modafferi
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Andrea Lee
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Paige VanZant
15 Gillian Robertson *NR

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Ketlen Vieira
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Aspen Ladd
10 Bethe Correia
11 Lina Lansberg +3
12 Irene Aldana -1
13 Lucie Pudilova -1
14 Sarah Moras -1
15 Gina Mazany

The post UFC Rankings Update: Darren Till Soars Following Controversial Win appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Trainer Explains How Darren Till Cheated Against Stephen Thompson

This longtime coach voiced his displeasure with how the UFC handled this fight.

The post Trainer Explains How Darren Till Cheated Against Stephen Thompson appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

There is still talk about the fight between Darren Till and Stephen Thompson.

Before they even stepped inside of the Octagon under the UFC banner, there was drama. It’s well known that Till missed weight the day before the fight and had to stay below 188 pounds until a few hours before the fight in order for the commission to sanction it.

He originally weighed in three pounds heavier than the maximum welterweight limit, which is 171.

As seen in the main event of UFC Liverpool event that aired live on FOX Sports 1 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England, the rising prospect picked up a unanimous decision win over former title contender but it was a close fight that has some people saying Till won while others say that Thompson won the fight.

Longtime MMA trainer Ray Longo recently made an appearance on the Jon Anik and Kenny Florian podcast to talk about various topics including this fight and how everything went down.

According to Longo, he thinks the fight was an easy one to score and that “Wonderboy” won the fight.

“I really thought it was an easy fight to score – minimum three rounds to two for Wonderboy, maybe four,” Longo said (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “When they announced those scores – 49-46 – I thought it was definitely him. It’s not an exciting fight, a very tactical chess game, but I just think that Darren Till did nothing. It’s not even what Wonderboy did, it’s what Darren Till didn’t do. Add in the fact that he missed weight, I just think it’s a no win situation for him in that fight.

“It was a close fight, there’s no question about that, but I just don’t know how you give any of those first three rounds to Darren Till. I looked at one or two rounds over again and it’s just weird. He really didn’t do anything. There was a lot of posturing. Wonderboy at least caught him coming in a couple of times, I thought. I guess you can’t leave it to the judges.”

It should be noted that Longo, who is one half of the Serra-Longo fight team, has had a working relationship with Thompson for years as he frequently spars with some of the Serra-Longo fight team that includes Chris Weidman, Al Iaquinta, Aljamain Sterling, and more.

Longo believes that fighters who miss weight are cheaters at this point in time.

“I think they’re gonna have to readdress this because at the end of the day it’s cheating,” Longo said. “There’s a higher percentage of wins with guys that don’t make weight than there are with guys that are on PEDs. They’re like 50-50 or even worse. They’re not even winning and they’re literally cheating. These guys [who miss weight] are cheaters at this point. If they’re not doing performance enhancing drugs, they’ve figured out another way to make it. This guy was willing to give away his whole purse, what does that tell you? He wanted to give away not 20 percent, he wanted to give away his whole purse. So they really have to come up with something because this looks like a problem.

“It’s just not right and everybody’s already forgotten about it. He didn’t make weight and they already moved past that. It’s not two years down the line, it’s two days down the line. It’s actually two days. It’s already over. Nobody mentions the weight at this point. They’re gonna have to come up with something because it looks like it’s worth a couple thousand dollars here and there.”

“This was a big fight for that kid and I think it’s a red flag for what’s to come in the future,” Longo said. “Even though he got the W, he’s really acting like he did something tremendous. He really didn’t do anything until the fifth round. I do think he’s a talented guy, big strong kid, and he’s gonna bring it so I’m curious to see what happens with him in the future but that fight, I thought, was an easy fight to score and I would’ve scored that for Wonderboy without a doubt.”

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UFC Liverpool Scores Highest Cable Ratings In Time Slot

UFC Liverpool scored some massive ratings in its time slot:

The post UFC Liverpool Scores Highest Cable Ratings In Time Slot appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

UFC Liverpool was a ratings success.

Sunday’s event (Sun., May 27, 2018) from the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England, averaged 552,000 viewers from 1 p.m. to 4:06 p.m thanks, making it the highest-rated show in the 18-49 demo on cable during its time slot according to a report from MMA Fighting’s Dave Meltzer.

Buoyed greatly by hometown rising star Darren Till’s questionable unanimous decision win over Stephen Thompson in the card’s headlining bout, the event was a rarely-witnessed UFC show on a Sunday afternoon. Ratings peaked during the headliner with 811,000 for Till vs. Thompson, a very strong afternoon number and the highest-watched event on cable at the time.

A comparable show featuring Alexander Gustafsson knocking out Glover Teixeira in Stockholm, Sweden last year did much lower numbers, averaging 496,000 viewers on Sunday, May 28, of last year.

UFC Liverpool wasn’t the only mixed martial arts (MMA) event from across the pond, however, as Friday’s Bellator 200 also went down from the SSE Wembley. Headlined by Gegard Mousasi’s title-sealing win over Rafael Carvalho in the main event and aired on tape delay in the United States, the show averaged 421,000 viewers on the Paramount Network.

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Darren Till Open to Wonderboy Rematch & It Could Happen

Darren Till has the solution to the controversy surrounding the UFC Liverpool decision victory over Stephen Thompson: run it back on American soil. Darren Till was able to solve the puzzle that is Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson at UFC Liverpool to earn a…

Darren Till has the solution to the controversy surrounding the UFC Liverpool decision victory over Stephen Thompson: run it back on American soil. Darren Till was able to solve the puzzle that is Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson at UFC Liverpool to earn a decision victory that was much narrower than the judges’ scorecards would indicate. After […]

The post Darren Till Open to Wonderboy Rematch & It Could Happen appeared first on MMA News.

Darren Till Offers To Rematch Stephen Thompson In America

Would you like to see “Wonderboy” and Till run it back?

The post Darren Till Offers To Rematch Stephen Thompson In America appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

This past weekend (May 27, 2018), rising star Darren Till scored a closely fought and somewhat controversial unanimous decision victory over former two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson in the main event of UFC Fight Night 130, which took place from the Echo Arena in Till’s home of Liverpool, England.

Following the fight, many had argued that the decision could have gone the other way had the fight not taken place in Liverpool.

If that’s the case, Till has offered to rematch “Wonderboy” in America, even going as far as to say he’d be willing to do it ‘as soon as possible’:

“I know Stephen said he needs to check his knee and that, but you’ve got all these experts out here saying this, saying that because it was in Liverpool,” Till said earlier this week on The MMA Hour. “If anyone wants me to come to America and fight Stephen again, Stephen definitely wants it and he’s not injured, I can do that as soon as possible. That rematch.

“Obviously, there are other guys that I want to fight as well. but let’s show all these critics. It’s probably going to be the same fight, definitely going to be the same outcome again. Maybe I can be more aggressive and knock him out this time. You’ll see. That’s what I’m thinking.”

The fight, which was indeed very close, saw little action produced by either man aside from a knockdown scored by Till in the final round. While the decision likely could’ve gone either way, many disagreed with the idea that Till had won four of the five rounds, which multiple judges had him doing.

Would you like to see the two run it back?

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Stephen Thompson Believes he Beats Till Outside of Liverpool

Stephen Thompson feels there was some hometown cooking at UFC Liverpool. Thompson took on Darren Till in the main event of UFC Liverpool. The action took place inside the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. Till ended up taking a unanimous decision, whic…

Stephen Thompson feels there was some hometown cooking at UFC Liverpool. Thompson took on Darren Till in the main event of UFC Liverpool. The action took place inside the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. Till ended up taking a unanimous decision, which sparked controversy. Two of the three judges scored the bout 49-46 for Till, […]

The post Stephen Thompson Believes he Beats Till Outside of Liverpool appeared first on MMA News.