Darren Till is going to be a name to remember.
This past weekend at UFC Fight Night Gdansk, surging Welterweight Darren Till knocked out 6-ranked Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in the first round. This represents the arrival of a charismatic and dangerous contender at 170.
Many are claiming that this win is not as impressive as it seems. Donald Cerrone, although a fan favorite and top-ten mainstay, has a history of underperforming in main card slots and getting bullied in the Octagon by confident fighters. His last two fights were a second round KO loss to Jorge Masvidal, who knocked him out twice, once at the end of the first, then again after Donald survived into the second, and a three round loss to Robbie Lawler around which time he ruptured his groin. Now Cerrone is coming off three losses and some fans have mentioned retirement, suggesting that “Cowboy” might just be fighting for the paycheck.
But that should take little away from Till’s flawless victory. His previous two fights have been impressive, albeit decision, wins over Bojan Veli?kovi? and Jessin Ayari. He is a massive welterweight, with powerful, fluid striking, and now a lot of momentum.
Till also did what any young prospect should do after a big win. He immediately created drama with another great opponent. Till got into a shouting match with fellow rising contender Mike “Platinum” Perry who was ringside. What makes this interesting though is that Perry already has a fight booked against 9th-ranked Santiago Ponzinibbio in December at UFC on Fox 26. So Any talk of Perry vs Till will have to wait until then.
That didn’t stop Perry from offering his thoughts on the fight at ringside.
“Yeah, he looked good against Donald — against Donald Cerrone. Not against ‘The Cowboy.’ That’s not the ‘Cowboy’ that wins fights. That’s the Donald that shows up. I wasn’t happy with Donald’s performance. I’ve seen him fight a lot better. Darren didn’t get a tough fighter tonight, he got someone who gave up in the first round.”
When asked about relative position in the rankings, Perry answered with his signature candor.
“Rankings don’t matter, they’ve never mattered since I got here. It’s about how hard I hit you with my right and my left hand.”
Do you think Darren Till will take over the welterweight division?
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