Darren Till’s departure from MMA is just a hiatus.
Last week saw the announcement of Darren Till v Julio César Chávez Jr. in the boxing ring. The Scouser will take on the former WBC middleweight champion on the undercard of Jake Paul v Mike Tyson this July 20th.
Yet to compete as an athlete since his UFC release in March 2023, Till has wanted to make his boxing debut since he left the organisation. Recently, it was revealed that he and his management had been in talks with BKFC to fight Mike Perry – however the fight never came into fruition.
Darren Till Speaks on UFC Future
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, Till admitted that boxing is just a stopgap for him. An MMA return is an inevitability.
“I’m going to win a UFC title. I speak to the UFC bosses all the time. I’m going to come into this boxing scene in a storm, then I’m going to go back to the UFC and get a title. Then I’m going to say, ‘Right, I’ve done it. I was one of the best. Cheers.’ And you can say I’m not going to, but I’ve solely got my sights on making a whole lot of money and beating up a few dudes, which I am 100 percent going to do.”
Till’s final three fights in the UFC did not go his way. ‘The Gorilla’ lost to Robert Whittaker and Derek Brunson before losing to current middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis.
Despite almost two years of inactivity, the Liverpudlian remains adamant in his abilities as an athlete. He partially blames bad management and injuries for the streak of losses that led to his departure.
“I did some good things in the UFC but I managed myself terribly in the UFC. After the Whittaker fight when I had that great performance, should have probably gone on to fight Adesanya, the decisions I made after that — fighting Brunson with a torn ACL and then fighting Dricus with the same injury.”
Admittedly, the loss to Du Plessis is what keeps Till awake at night.
Du Plessis now reigns supreme over the middleweight division after edging out a decision victory against former champion Sean Strickland. Till believes his showing against the South African in 2022 proves that he has what it takes.
“By the way, Dricus is beating everyone. I beat him up for two rounds before he stopped me. That pisses me off a little bit, because I know I could be the champion. People when they see Dricus now go, ‘Wow, we thought Till was finished. Is he actually finished? Because he pieced the champ up.’ I managed myself very bad. It was stupid decisions and choices I was making. That’s a thorn inside of me, to be honest.”
Till has gone as far as giving himself a timeline for his combat-sports return. Two years of boxing is what has been prescribed, before going directly back to the UFC to make his way to the title.
“I think two years. I’m going to do two years in boxing, I’m going to make millions and millions, and then I’m going to say, ‘Guys, you said I could come back at any time. Can I? Give me one or two fights. I’ve been in Russia for 12 months now just wrestling, wrestling. Or Brazil. Give me a chance now.”
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
