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Darren Till confirmed that he won't be fighting at UFC London. He teased fighting Robert Whittaker at London, but it didn't work out and Whittaker instead opted to face Jared Cannonier - the fastest-rising contender in the Middleweight Division.
Whittaker pulled out of his scheduled bout at UFC 248 due to personal reasons - something Dana White praised him for, calling him "selfless". In the meanwhile, UFC wants to keep Cannonier on the card and Darren Till is the frontrunner to take that spot.
However, the problem with Till is the injury that he has. He was asked about it and in an interview with Fight Disciples, he detailed the injury that he has:
"You know me – always niggles,” Till said. “My ankle is just a bit niggly. It’s just a little floating injury I’ve always had. … I’m just training and working through it. I’m just training like I’ve got a fight at the moment. I trained right through Christmas. I’ve been training since my last fight, to be honest. I had a week or two off.
As for UFC 248, he said that he's ready to fight. The fact that he has to cut 15 pounds lesser than before makes it easier for him to be ready if the call comes:
“Right up until this point I’ve been saying it: I’m ready to fight. If the call comes, I don’t have to cut too much weight. I’ll be 90 percent ready.”
He said that right now, there's a 50% chance that he fights at 248:
“I think right now maybe 50/50,” Till said. “Openly, I know the UFC has been speaking to my manager and trying to sort out something – a good deal to get the fight going. All I can say to you – and I’m very honest – is I hope the fight comes off.
He expressed his desire to fight the scariest men in the division, which is why he's interested to take out Cannonier - who's ranked one place above Till at #5.
“I want to fight the best. I want to fight the scariest dudes. Cannonier is definitely one of them, so hopefully we can sort something (out). I want to get that title this year. I want to start cementing my name.”
It's a risky fight for Till, but it could be a title eliminator depending on Paulo Costa's status. The Brazilian was supposed to get the Middleweight title opportunity, but an injury for half of the year meant that Israel Adesanya had to request for Yoel Romero as his next opponent.
Adesanya will face Romero in the UFC 248 headliner.
