Darren Till has a plan.
A one-time UFC welterweight title challenger, Till left the world’s leading MMA promotion in 2023 to pursue other interests, namely a move to boxing. However, since his departure, Till still has yet to compete in any combat sport. Till recently announced he will make his long-awaited boxing debut against former WBC middleweight champion Julio César Chávez Jr. on July 20 as part of the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson card, but speaking on The MMA Hour, Till made it clear that boxing is only a temporary stop on his combat sports journey.
“I’m going to win a UFC belt,” Till said. “I’m going to win a UFC title. I speak to the UFC bosses all the time. ... I’m going to come into this boxing scene in a storm, then I’m going to go back to the UFC and get a title. Then I’m going to say, ‘Right, I’ve done it. I was one of the best. Cheers.’ And you can say I’m not going to, but I’ve solely got my sights on making a whole lot of money and beating up a few dudes, which I am 100 percent going to do. I don’t think they’ll be able to lay a hand on me. I really don’t.”
It’s a bold prediction from Till, who has won one fight in six years and exited the UFC on a three-fight losing streak, but “The Gorilla” has never lacked for confidence. Till once famously proclaimed he would be the first three-division champion in UFC. And while Till’s goals have become more modest since then, his confidence remains the same, especially since he believes the things that went wrong for him were entirely within his control.
“I did some good things in the UFC but I managed myself terribly in the UFC,” Till said. “After the [Robert] Whittaker fight when I had that great performance, should have probably gone on to fight Adesanya, the decisions I made after that — fighting [Derek] Brunson with a torn ACL and then fighting Dricus [du Plessis] with the same injury.
“By the way, Dricus is beating everyone. I beat him up for two rounds before he stopped me. That pisses me off a little bit, because I know I could be the champion. People when they see Dricus now go, ‘Wow, we thought Till was finished. Is he actually finished? Because he pieced the champ up.’ I managed myself very bad. It was stupid decisions and choices I was making. That’s a thorn inside of me, to be honest.”
Perhaps Till will have the chance to remove that thorn, and in his perfect world, he won’t have to wait that long. Till says he’s spending the next two years in the squared circle and then he’ll be back, before riding off into the sunset.
“I think two years,” Till said. “I’m going to do two years in boxing, I’m going to make millions and millions, and then I’m going to say, ‘Guys, you said I could come back at any time. Can I? Give me one or two fights. I’ve been in Russia for 12 months now just wrestling, wrestling. Or Brazil. Give me a chance now. My knee is OK. And if I go in and my chance fails, it fails. If I go in and I win a title, I’ll say on the mic, ‘I’ve won the title. I’m the best in the world right now. See you later. Bon voyage!’
“I’m manifesting this. I manifested a lot of things. I also manifested a lot of bad things in the UFC, but I’m manifesting this now and I think about it every day.”
