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Michael Bisping has revealed that Darren Till was dealing with an ACL injury heading into his fight against Derek Brunson this past weekend.
Bisping, Adam Catterall and Nick Peet featured in BT Sport's post-fight breakdown of the UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Till event.
When asked what Darren Till would need to do in order to ascend to the next level in his career, Bisping stated:
“Yeah, so, obviously I went backstage to see Darren after the fight. He was very disappointed, of course. But he was a man. He was holding it together. But he was frustrated, and understandably so. But I spent about 30 minutes with him (Darren Till) in the bathroom and (Darren Till’s coach) Colin Heron, just talking to him and giving him some advice. And perhaps I’m breaking guy code here, but, you know, there was an injury coming into that fight.”
“He tore his ACL about 10 weeks ago, and he never mentioned it. But listen, you know, it’s an excuse, it’s a reason; whatever you want to call it. He never mentioned it. And I’m sure Derek (Brunson) had problems as well. But certainly, with that kind of injury – and he said he was having all kinds of medical treatment leading up to the fight. So, of course, with that injury, that will have hampered his performance. But still, you can’t take away from Derek Brunson on that night. Darren chose to step in.”
Derek Brunson vs. Darren Till was a pivotal fight in the UFC middleweight division
The UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Till event was headlined by a middleweight bout between Derek Brunson and Darren Till. Brunson defeated Till via a rear-naked choke submission in round three.
At the time, the consensus in the MMA community was that the winner of the matchup would earn a future shot at the UFC middleweight title.
In other words, the winner of this fight would be next in line to face the victor of the UFC middleweight title rematch between current champion Israel Adesanya and former champion Robert Whittaker.
The Adesanya-Whittaker rematch is expected to take place in 2022, and the winner of this fight will likely defend the title against Derek Brunson next.
