Before his Saturday night loss to Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC on Fox 26, Mike Perry was stumping for a potential bout with undefeated Brit Darren Till. In light of Perry’s defeat, Till has a new, wondrous target.
Darren Till became an overnight star with his huge first-round win over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone back in October. Since then, Till has jumped into the Welterweight top 10 and let it be known that he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
“As I’ve said in the past, I don’t really care about rankings, so I’m not one to say, ‘just because he’s coming off a loss let’s not fight,’” Till told Ariel Helwani on recent episode of “The MMA Hour.” “I’m still game to fight him, but obviously it’s not really smart matchmaking now because I’m coming off a win and he’s coming off a loss.”
Till instead focuses his attention to the man he was rumored to fight in the UFC London main event, former two-time title challenger, Stephen Thompson.
“His Daddy won’t let him,” he replied when asked if he thought the Thompson fight would be scheduled.
“I don’t know why Thompson won’t take the fight. Maybe I have jumped a few spots, but so what? If I am whatever they say I am, why won’t he just fight me and knock me off my perch? If they think I don’t deserve it then come and show me that I don’t deserve it because I know I do. He’s looking for the title again, but he’s been beat twice. Now he’s moved onto RDA. He knows he’s going to beat RDA because I feel Wonderboy could really hurt RDA.”
Beyond Thompson’s two previous title challenges, there is another particular reason that Darren is keen on a Thompson fight the chance to prove not just that he’s the best striker at 170 pounds, but in the entire UFC. We could make a great fight, I know i can knock him out.
“It’s because he’s a world-class striker. That’s why I want to fight him. His striking ability is so good. I know with me coming from a Muay Thai background and him coming from karate, I can nullify everything he’s does and prove that I am the most superior striker in all the UFC. I know that.”
Thompson defeated Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision at UFC 217 event back in November.
