Darren Till
"The Gorilla"
17 - 1 - 1
England
DOB:
24-12-1992
Age:
32 years
Division:
Welterweight
City/State:
Liverpool
Promotion:
Weight
170
Height
6'0
Wins
17
Losses
1
Draws
1
  • KO/TKO
    17/10
    59%
  • SUB
    17/2
    12%
  • DEC
    17/5
    29%

Background

Till was born in Liverpool, England. He began training in Muay Thai at the age of 12 and turned professional at the age of 15. Till made the decision to train in MMA under Team Kaobon at the age of 17.[8][9] Till was involved in a fight at a party in August 2012 and was stabbed twice in the back, after confronting a large group of men. It was a near death experience as the knife cut deep into his body, missing his main artery by a millimetre. After the incident, his then-coach Colin Heron advised him to go to Brazil to train with Kaobon’s previous Luta Livre coach Marcelo Brigadiero, as living in Liverpool caused too much distraction in his life. Team Kaobon rallied round and raised the funds and packed him off. He moved to Brazil to pursue his MMA career and to teach Muay Thai. Till’s initial plan was to stay in Brazil for just six months, although Heron’s thinking was much different as he intended on having Till stay in Brazil for as long as possible, in order to keep him away from Liverpool’s distractions. Till ended up staying for three and a half years.[10]

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Till spent much of his early MMA career in Santa Catarina, Brazil where he was part of “Astra Fight Team”. He compiled an amateur record of 3-0 before turning professional, with a total of 11 fights in Brazil and one fight in Argentina. Prior to joing the UFC, Till fought eight times in 2013 alone and his record was 12-0 with seven KO/TKO wins.[1]

Ultimate Fighting Championship

2015

Till faced Brazilian Wendell de Oliveira Marques in his UFC debut on nine days notice at UFC Fight Night 67 on 30 May 2015. Oliveira managed to control most of round one by pinning Till to the fence, kneeing him in the abdomen and the upper inner thighs. In round two, Till successfully completed an early shot and took Oliveira down, ending up on top where he rained down elbows. He knocked out Oliveira and secured his first UFC win.[11]

Till next faced Nicolas Dalby on 24 October 2015 at UFC Fight Night 76. After a back and forth fight, the bout was scored a majority draw.[12][13] Both participants were awarded the Fight of the Night bonus.[14]

2017

After a significant shoulder injury and various personal issues kept him out of action for an extended period of time, Till returned to face Jessin Ayari on 28 May 2017 at UFC Fight Night 109. He missed the non-title Welterweight limit of 171 pounds by 5 pounds, and had to give 20 percent of his fight earnings to his opponent. He explained that he had missed weight due to his long lay off from competition and that his body had not responded as well to the weight cutting process as it had in the past. Despite this difficult road to the fight, Till outpointed Ayari on the scorecards to win a unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27 and 29–27).[15]

On 1 August 2017, Till announced that he had signed a new, five-fight deal with the UFC.[16]

Till faced Bojan Veličković on 2 September 2017 at UFC Fight Night 115.[17] Till extended his undefeated streak via unanimous decision.[18]

Till faced Donald Cerrone on 21 October 2017 at UFC Fight Night 118.[19] He won the fight via TKO in the first round.[20] This dominant win earned him the Performance of the Night bonus award.[21]

2018

Till faced former UFC Welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson at UFC Fight Night 130 on 27 May 2018. At the weigh-ins, Till weighed in at 174.5 pounds, 3.5 pounds over the Welterweight non-title fight limit of 171. After negotiating with Thompson’s team, the bout proceeded at a catchweight with the stipulation that Till could not weigh more than 188 pounds on the day of the fight. Till also forfeited 30 percent of his purse to Thompson.[22] Till won the close fight via unanimous decision. He outstruck Thompson 38 to 30 in terms of significant strikes and scored the only knockdown of the fight in the fifth round.[23] Despite this however, 22 of 25 media outlets scored the bout in favor of Thompson.[24]

Till faced Tyron Woodley on 8 September 2018 at UFC 228, challenging him for the UFC Welterweight championship.[25] He lost the fight via D’Arce choke in the second round.[26]

2019

Despite talks of a potential move up to Middleweight, Till stayed at Welterweight and faced Jorge Masvidal on 16 March 2019 at UFC Fight Night 147 in London, England. [27] Till lost the fight by knockout in the second round.[28] Both participants were awarded a Fight of the Night bonus award.[29]

Article source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Till

UFC Fight Record
Welterweight