ROBERT WHITTAKER VS. DARREN TILL
This is the kind of matchup that feels like it ought to have a name in the MMA lexicon.
It’s not a No. 1 contender fight because Paulo Costa is next in line in the middleweight division, and it’s not necessarily a title eliminator either because a narrow victory for either man might not be enough to secure top spot on the list of contenders, but it is an ultra-important, incredibly competitive matchup that is surely going to answer a bunch of the questions everyone has about Whittaker and Till heading into this clash on Saturday night, and a fight like that should have a name.
I kind of want to call it a “polygraph fight” because we’re going to find out the truth about where each of these men fit in the middleweight hierarchy, but that feels a little clunky, so for now, I’m going to keep work-shopping it and tell you this is an amazing fight that you better not miss.
Whittaker hasn’t fought since losing the middleweight title to Israel Adesanya last fall. He was scheduled to face Jared Cannonier earlier this year but withdrew from the bout and ultimately disclosed that he was dealing with burnout, something just about everyone can understand. The 29-year-old didn’t look like his usual sharp self in the bout with Adesanya, which was his first fight in 15 months following his second grueling war with Yoel Romero the previous summer at UFC 225.
So now he’s hit the reset button, taken the time away he needed, and is back to share the cage with a promising new addition to the division who has designs on getting to where Whittaker once was, and there are a bunch of people wondering if we’re going to see the old “Bobby Knuckles” again or if those twin battles with Romero and the litany of injuries he’s dealt with over the years have taken a toll on the talented Australian.
Back-to-back losses and a daunting cut to 170-pounds prompted Till to reconsider his options last spring, leading to the Liverpudlian moving up in weight and challenging Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 244. The confident Scouser landed on the happy side of a split decision verdict that night in New York City, showing right out of the gate that he’s deserving of a place in the Top 10.
But is he good enough to hang with the absolute elite in the middleweight ranks and does the move up a division strip Till of some of the advantages that made him such an imposing threat at welterweight, namely his size and physicality?
All of those questions will be answered this weekend, in theory, and it should be clear whether one of or both of these men are primed to spend the next several years as permanent fixtures in the title conversation in the 185-pound weight division.
It’s also going to be a really, really entertaining fight, too.
