Darren Till still has a goal of returning to the UFC.
Till (18-5-1 MMA, 6-5-1 UFC) requested his release in March 2023 after going on a three-fight losing streak. Till had been dealing with a slew of knee injuries, which he thinks factored into his submission loss to current middleweight champ Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 282.
Since parting ways with the UFC, Till has gone 2-0 in boxing exhibition bouts, most recently scoring a Round 6 TKO of Anthony Taylor under the Misfits Boxing banner in January. He takes on fellow UFC veteran Darren Stewart in another boxing match March 29 at AO Arena in Manchester, England, but hasn’t forgotten about his octagon return.
“I do still want to come back to the UFC. That hasn’t left my mind,” Till said on the “Believe You Me” podcast. “I’ve seen the state of the middleweight division. I think I can come back. I’m the only guy who really gave the champ any trouble on the feet. Everyone else sort of gets confused by how sh*t he is when he’s beating them.
“He wasn’t a problem for me. The problem for me was a little niggle, and I was a strong dude. But apart from that, especially now with the way I’ve improved my boxing skills, I just don’t think Dricus could beat me. If I stuff them takedown attempts, I do see that opening there for me to go.”
Du Plessis has proven to be a problem for the middleweight division, with his past four wins coming over Sean Strickland twice, Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya.
But having honed in on his boxing skills and adapted to a heavier frame, former UFC welterweight title challenger Till is confident he can make a serious run in his octagon return.
“I just made a promise to Hunter (Campbell) and Dana (White). I said just give me two to three years to get my sh*t sorted and that, and come back,” Till said. “From what I’m seeing on the outside, I’m quite a calculated guy. Listen, the UFC is crying out for superstars. There’s no stars in the UFC. They’ve gone and been done, and the level, especially in my weight division, like I’m bigger and stronger now.
“When I did move up to the middleweight division, I still had sort of my welterweight frame. I feel like I’ve grown into the middleweight frame now. No disrespect, if I come up against Dricus and Sean, these guys, I just really think I’d do a number on them. I really do, and I know I’ve still got it in me to do it. It would be some story. It would be like the Michael Bisping stories.”
