All week, the build-up to fight night felt like Darren Till was the main event and Jorge Masvidal was just the guy who took a fight. The narrative all sat with Till. Fresh off a failed title shot that was also the first loss of his career, the young scouser sought to regain his mojo that shot him up the welterweight rankings in the first place. Willing opponents seemed scarce until Masvidal came out of the woodwork, signing up for his first bout since late-2017. Though Masvidal hadn’t won since January of the same year, he carried himself with a respectful but obvious confidence to go with a newly chiseled physique. It seemed like a set up for a proper scrap that would see Till reassert himself as a threat.
Everything was going according to plan after the first five minutes. The rockous crowd in the O2 Arena belted out “Sweet Caroline” as their countryman entered the cage. Till scored an early knockdown while Masvidal landed combinations of his own.
And then Masvidal landed a switch-stance left hook, Till’s lights went out and the 16,602 in the arena watched his head bounce on the canvas in silence.
With the win and a tasty double-performance bonus, Masvidal catupaulted himself right into the conversation of opponents Kamaru Usman could face for his first title defense. Ben Askren and Leon Edwards have both made it clear they wanted the winner of this fight, and both provide intriguing matchups in what could be a sort of title eliminator.
For Till, it might be time “The Gorilla” makes the move up the middleweight, where an easier cut could prove to be the secret sauce to getting back into the win column. The talent, stature and confidence is all there, and it’s easy to forget he is still just 26 years old, but to say what went down on Saturday night was a surprise would be a disservice to “Gamebred.”
The welterweight division just got a whole lot more interesting.
