Morning Report: Darren Till looking ahead to fights with ‘d*ckhead’ Colby Covington and Israel Adesanya

MMAfighting.com

After he defeat to Tyron Woodley while challenging for the UFC welterweight title back in September, Darren Till announced that he would finally be moving up to middleweight. It appears those plans were short-lived though as Till has decided he can put the move up on hold for awhile so he can settle his unfinished business at 170 pounds.

Till has had a rough go of making the welterweight limit in the past, missing weight badly in two of his seven UFC fights, but he recently told Michael Bisping on Bisping’s Believe You Me podcastthat after reconsidering, he decided the weight cut for Woodley was so easy that he can still compete at welterweight for now.

“I’m definitely gonna fight at 185, just because I made such a big deal out of the cut meself, obviously because I missed weight out in Liverpool,” Till said. “But the cut turned out to be surprisingly easy [for Woodley]. It was just easy. So I can still stay at welterweight for a few more fights. That’s what I’ve got in my head and then obviously move up to 185. But for now, I can still make the welterweight cut so I think I’m going to stay at welterweight.”

Staying at 170 pounds still has plenty of opportunity for Till. As the second-ranked fighter in the division, a few wins should get him right back in the title picture. At the moment, he’s looking at Jorge Masvidal (who called Till out recently on Twitter) for a main event fight at UFC London in March but after that, Till hopes to mix it up with the man he passed over for his welterweight title shot, Colby Covington.

“If I beat Masvidal, if I fight him, and then if Colby finds some balls, fight him maybe,” Till said. “We’ll see what happens. I’m not eager to straight away fight and then get a rematch with the champion. I just want to beat everyone. I want to beat everyone so there’s no questions left.”

Covington is currently in an odd state of limbo with the UFC. After winning an interim welterweight title in June, Covington was stripped of his belt when he was unable to fight Woodley in September. He was once again passed over for a shot at Woodley this year, when it was announced that Kamaru Usman would be taking on “The Chosen One” at UFC 235. Covington was understandably upset about the decision and went scorched Earth on Dana White and the UFC over snubbing him. And while Till says he actually agrees that Covington got screwed over, his reaction to it is bad form and just reveals how soft Covington actually is.

“Aside from the fact Colby’s a d*ckhead, I think he did deserve the shot because he did beat a lot of guys to get there and obviously he did win the interim belt and he was only stripped of that when I fought Woodley,” Till opined. “I’ll be honest, I think he’s scared to fight Woodley. I don’t think he wants the fight. I think he’s making out that he wants the fight but I don’t think he wants the fight. I think he wants to fight on his terms. That being said mate, it’s the UFC you’re talking about. There’s no terms negotiable. If they want you to fight, you have to fight unless you can come up with a good injury or excuse. It is how it is.

“It’s the same thing with Dana. He’s talking sh*t about Dana. If I had a problem with Dana, I’ve got his number. I’d just message him and say, ‘You got a f*cking problem with me or something?’ I just think it’s bad. I think it just looks stupid and it looks like you’re b*tching. . .

“If you want to create a bad boy persona, don’t let people throw boomerangs at you in Australia, because if someone’s done that to me, mate, that’s a f*cking face off, so he’s not really that much of a bad boy is he?”

And after Covington? For the moment, Till’s plans are still down at welterweight. But when he does make the leap up to 185, there is one fight he is most interested in: Israel Adesanya.

“‘Stylebender’,” Till said. “I’m always asking Sean [Shelby] for the biggest and the hardest challenges. Obviously, you seen that in my last fight against the champion. I just want to fight the best and right now at middleweight, Stylebender is one of the best. Not all around but I think striker versus striker, me coming from a striking background and himself, I just think it would be a good matchup. That’s definitely a fight I want in the future.”

And that’s definitely a fight fans would love to see.