Darren Till Eyes To Move At Middleweight And Plotting A Second UFC Title
Rising welterweight Darren Till gearing up for his upcoming fight, where he’ll challenge undisputed champion Tyron Woodley for a title in the main event of UFC 228 on September 8 in Dallas.
Darren Till looking to capture a title against Woodley then wants to defend it couple times before he moves to middleweight after citing difficulty in cutting down to 170-pounds.
“I just want to win this belt. I want to defend it; I just want to be able to say that I’ve defended it. You could be looking at two or three fights at welterweight and then that’s me done. I’m 25, I’m not putting my body through this for much longer,” he said during a recent media event (via MMA Fighting).
“I’m here today, I’m great. I’ve got my chef with me and he’s doing a f*cking perfect job. I feel good. I just want to be able to eat some white rice. I’m just f*cking hungry — that’s what it is,” he added.
“As I’m getting older, I’m starting to see that it’s a lot of weight to cut and I don’t need to do it. I started at welterweight, I’m going to finish at welterweight and my ultimate goal is to be welterweight champion. In two weeks, I could be making that a reality. After that, I want to defend and then after that it’s probably me going to middleweight. That’s how I see my future playing out.”
“Gorilla” has missed weight in his previous two fights, putting lots of efforts leading up into the title fight on his weight struggles. Hope he able to make weight for this Saturday’s match against Woodley, if he fails to hit the 170-pound mark; he may find himself moving to 185-pound sooner than planned.
Till stressed that after jumping up to 185-pound he wouldn’t follow the trend of following champs for a super fight, but instead he’ll earn his way to a title shot. But like in his division he got an opportunity for championship fight after Colby Covington unable to fight Woodley that kind of offer he wouldn’t deny in middleweight either.
“I’ve said I want to go to middleweight. It’s just… I see a lot of guys and they’re chasing money fights. They’re winning titles and they’re calling either the higher or the lower category or they’re calling for that super fight,” he explained. “When I take that belt, I want to defend that belt and then I want to go up to middleweight, but that doesn’t mean that I want to go up and challenge the champion. I would like to earn my stripes in that division too. I feel there are a lot of good guys in that division.”
After moving to middleweight, there is one fighter, Till isn’t too eager to face, as there’s plenty of desirable matchups.
“There’s one guy that I wouldn’t like to fight, Yoel Romero. I’m glad he’s gone up, he’s a f*ckin’ beast,” he said in laughter.
At least both Till and former two-time title challenger Yoel Romero has something in common, is missing weight.
