Darren Till Won’t Rule Out Staying at 170 Pounds Following UFC 228 Defeat

Despite weight cut issues in the past, Darren Till might very well remain in the welterweight division his second round submission loss to Tyron Woodley in the UFC 228 headliner.

“The Gorilla” made weight without issue ahead of Saturday’s title bout at American Airlines Arena in Dallas, which came as a relief after Till tipped the scales at 174.5 pounds for his previous fight against Stephen Thompson in May. Till has mentioned mentioned eventually moving to middleweight in the past, but that would have a few fights after defending the 170-pound belt he expected to win. For now, he won’t rule out staying put at 170 pounds for his next fight.

“I don’t know. That’s a good question to ask. The weight cut was really easy…In my mind I can still do three weeks and make weight like that again,” Till said at the UFC 228 post-fight press conference. “It’s a tough one. It just pisses me off that someone was better than me tonight. I can’t live with myself knowing that tonight he was better.”

While the weight cut went well, Till was dropped by a Woodley right hand in the second stanza, and things went downhill from there. The champion hammered Till with ground-and-pound from above before locking in a brabo choke to secure the tapout at the 4:19 mark of round two.

“It’s just hard to take a loss. It hurts more know because of what it is,” Till said. “I was nearly there to do what I set out to do: get that belt and be the greatest. I am still gonna be the greatest, I know that. I spoke to Woodley backstage and he’s lost; Jon Jones has lost; Georges St. Pierre has lost. All the greats have lost. That’s my first lost tonight. I’m still OK, but I’m just upset. There’s no sugarcoating it.”

If Till could have fixed one thing about his UFC 228 performance, it would have been his frame of mind. From warmups right until the fight began, the Liverpool native believes he was a little too laid back.

“I was too relaxed. I was too confident. I’m always confident,” Till said. “The job had already been done in my head. Camp went so well, the weight cut went so well. Everything went so well…”