Darren Till announced he'd left the UFC after asking for a release in order to focus on getting better and returning to the fold an improved fighter. Now, he's stepping into a boxing debut where he'll fight former WBC middleweight champion Julio César Chávez Jr.
That left many fans wondering if he'd given up his MMA aspirations for good. While appearing on a recent episode of The MMA Hour, Till explained his thought process for taking the boxing fight and what he plans to do next.
“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.”
Till has only won a single fight in the last six years but seems confident in his skills in the future. He also explained his final few fights in the UFC Octagon more in-depth.
“I did some good things in the UFC but I managed myself terribly in the UFC. 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," he said.
“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.”
Till will appear on the undercard of the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight set for July 20.
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