Darren Till‘s business plans seemingly backfired one time in particular.
‘The End Of Rawdog’
After fighting in the Octagon for several years, the ex-UFC star decided to open up his own beer company. Till would call his brand, ‘Rawdog’, a reference to his past banter and rivalry with the BKFC’s ‘King of Violence’ Mike Perry.
As it so turns out, Till’s premium lager could have used a better name. Not too long into his business venture, ‘The Gorilla’ says he was met by legal action from a UK-based clothing company, which apparently claimed copyright infringement.
“I got sued for $1.4M, Rawdog got sued.” Till said on the Overdogs Podcast. “It was going well, and I was actually saying to the guys, we need to give [Israel] Adesanya some percent [of the profit] and Perry. Then, there’s a brand in England called ;G-Star Raw’, and it’s trademarked, and they own the rights to the name, ‘raw’. So they sued us, and we couldn’t trade anymore.
“They sent us a cease and desist like that and that was the end of Rawdog,” Till explained. “We got like 2 months worth [of business].”
Till isn’t the first MMA fighter to try his hand in the brewing industry. Former UFC Champion Conor McGregor made a killing with ‘Proper 12 Irish Whiskey’, selling his majority stake in the company for $600M in 2021.
While it didn’t pan out so well for Darren Till in his first time out, the 31 year-old can always try again… just with a name that’s not ‘Rawdog’.
In regards to his fighting career, the former UFC title challenger is now a free-agent. Till last fought current champ Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 282 in 2022. The setback was his third-straight at middleweight.
