Maybe Darren Till just got tired of the weather in Brazil.
“I got tired of the sun and wanted to change it for the rain,” he laughs, referring to his return to his native Liverpool late last year after four years living and training in Brazil. It was a stretch in which he learned Portuguese, became a father and also earned a spot in the UFC after winning 12 consecutive bouts, 11 in Brazil, and eight by knockout.
But home always beckoned, and eventually it was time to make it back to England and to his coach Colin Heron and Team Kaobon.
“Being such a long time away from my family, friends and coaches back here in England, I just wanted to switch up a bit and get back to my striking ways with my coach and my master Colin, and that was mainly the reason, to be totally honest with you.”
And though one would think it would take some adjusting to get back to the British way of life, Till believes he can settle into any situation anywhere.
Jessin Ayari and Bojan Velickovic turned a rebuilding year after a 19-month layoff into a year in which he makes his move into the welterweight top 10.
“I just wanted to get back and prove that I’m one of the best fighters in the world, and that was the first step to it all, obviously getting my first fight in,” he said of his New Year’s resolution. “I would never have thought in 2017 that I’d be main event against such a top guy like Donald Cerrone. I knew it was gonna come and I knew I was gonna be a top ten fighter and a titleholder, but 2017 was supposed to be about getting back on track. Obviously, I’ve done it in quick time. I just beat two top competitors in Europe and now I’m moving on to the American scene, fighting one of the best fighters who’s ever lived in Donald Cerrone. So, for me, 2017 was planned, but it went a hundred percent better than planned.”
But is it a bridge too far for Till at this point? Some believe the No. 6-ranked Cerrone has too much world-class experience for the Brit, who enters the fight with a 15-0-1 record. But as the saying goes, “Who dares wins,” and Till is daring to be great, a destiny he saw as his from his first days in the gym.
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“I want to be totally honest,” he said. “I think from my first early days of sparring and my first amateur fights in Muay Thai, I just knew I wasn’t like the rest and I knew that my fighting brain and my fighting IQ was special. I was always very confident as a kid. Nothing could bring me down. Getting beat up in sparring by the older guys or anything like that, nothing ever got to me. I definitely think that from when I was a kid I thought I was a special fighter. That is something I truly believe and I’ve known it for years now.”
On Saturday, he gets his big chance to prove it. Yes, an opportunity like this has raced up to Till, but he’s not an impatient young man. He just believes things happen when they’re meant to, and right now, he’s not only ready for Cerrone, but for everybody.
Conor McGregor for it, but look what that guy’s done, and I’m a guy like that. I believe in my potential a hundred percent.”
It almost sounds like Darren Till is having too much fun with all this. He laughs.
“That’s accurate. The buildup is great, the s**t talking, the weight cutting. It’s all good and the same parts that we don’t like to do are horrible. But once I step in that Octagon and I land the first punch and I get hit myself, it feels like home. This is what I was put on the planet to do, so I enjoy every five minutes of that round. That is my drug. I don’t need to take drugs or anything like that. My drug is in the Octagon, and that is me speaking a hundred percent truth.”
