Darren Till got a rough welcome to bare-knuckle, then answered with the shot that mattered.
Till stopped Aaron Chalmers in the BKFC 90 co-main event on May 30, 2026, at Utilita Arena in Birmingham, England. The finish came by second-round TKO at 0:22, giving the former UFC title challenger a successful debut after Chalmers briefly flipped the script in Round 1.
Chalmers entered unbeaten under the BKFC banner at 2-0, and he made Till earn this one early. He clipped the Liverpool fighter with a left hand in the opening round and forced him down to one knee for a count. Till got back up, stayed composed, and came out sharper in the second.
Watch the finish below:
https://x.com/bareknucklefc/status/2060853031667683338
Till Turns A Bad Start Into A Quick Finish
The reset was immediate. Chalmers kept moving and ducking, but Till found his timing, stepped into range, and cracked him clean. Chalmers hit the canvas badly hurt, and the referee’s count became a formality.
Till said after the win that the first round forced him to switch on.
“I was f*cking made for this shit,” Till said. “I’m built for it. I was like I can’t let this little c*nt get this on me. That first round was his and now start letting my hands go.”
He did not call for one specific opponent afterward.
“F*cking everyone! I don’t care. I’m not scared of anyone!”
Till’s combat sports background is why BKFC pushed this fight hard. He went 18-5-1 in MMA, challenged Tyron Woodley for the UFC welterweight title at UFC 228, and beat Donald Cerrone, Stephen Thompson, and Kelvin Gastelum during his UFC run. After losses to Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson, and Dricus Du Plessis, he moved into boxing and kept his name active before signing for this bare-knuckle jump.
Chalmers brought his own experience. The former Geordie Shore cast member went 5-2 in MMA, competed in Bellator, moved into boxing, and shared an exhibition ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr. He also had enough timing to drop Till before the fight swung away from him.
The win gives BKFC a bigger lane for Till, especially with his long-running Mike Perry tension sitting there. After stopping Luke Rockhold in boxing and now blasting through his first BKFC test, Till has momentum again across the weirdest, bloodiest part of the crossover fight world.
