Darren Till has quickly made a name for himself in the Ultimate fighting championship (UFC) Welterweight division, winning four straight fights to push his undefeated record to 16-0-1. his most recent win saw him dispatch of longtime veteran Donald Cerrone last October, knocking “Cowboy” out in the very first round in Poland.
Now, “The Gorilla” is trying his best to make a case for the Welterweight title shot, and the best way to do it is to pick a fight against the current No. 1 contender in the division, Rafael dos Anjos.
Speaking to MMA Fighting, Till says he’d love nothing more than to keep “RDA” busy and wouldn’t mind facing him in his own home country of Brazil. Still, it won’t exactly be a biased crowd toward Rafael should it go down at UFC 224 on May 12, 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“Just because of his fan base there,” Till said, “and I’ve obviously lived there. I’ve got a lot of fans there, and I can speak the language. It would be a good sell in Brazil, if he’s willing to do it,” Till said.
As it stands, dos Anjos is the next contender to Tyron Woodley’s 170-pound strap. But since “T-Wood” is rehabbing an injured shoulder, “RDA” has had to sit idle waiting for the champ to get better.
“I know he’s waiting for [Tyron] Woodley but Woodley doesn’t seem to want to come back,” added Till. Still, if a fight against dos Anjos doesn’t materialize, he is open to facing any of the other top contender in the division such as Stephen Thompson, Santiago Ponzinibbio, just to name a few.
At the end of the day, Darren just wants to fight as soon as possible as he says his comeback to the Octagon is the most anticipated one, with only Conor McGregor’s eventual return being bigger.
“Apart from Conor, everyone is anticipating my comeback more than anyone else,” Till said. “It will be big.”
There is no denying Till’s star is starting to shine brighter, but something tells me it’s not bright enough at the moment to distract dos Anjos from the bigger picture.