Darren Till’s return to action after almost two years out couldn’t have been any more outrageous if he had tried.
The Liverpool native mutually parted with the UFC after losing to Dricus Du Plessis at the end of 2022, and has been working towards a boxing debut since. He was due to compete on the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson undercard against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, but when that card was postponed so too was the fight.
Chavez Jr ended up staying on the undercard of Paul’s hastily-arranged fight with Mike Perry, but a visa issue cost Till the opportunity to save their bout. Instead, he took a ‘stay busy’ fight on Social Knockout 3 in Dubai on the undercard of influencer Abdu Rozik.
Darren Till makes opponent quit inside two rounds to win boxing debut
After a fiery weigh-in where Darren Till’s opponent Mohammad Mutie had to be held apart from the former UFC title contender, the ‘Palestinian Gorilla’ was more like a chihuahua as he refused to engage from the first bell.
Till had made his rival wait an incredible length of time before making a plodding walk to the ring, and appeared to be going at a jogging pace in the opening round. But Mutie stuck to single shots, not causing much trouble as they competed over a planned four rounds of two minutes.
In the second round, the Brit landed a big shot just behind his rival’s head, which resulted in him going down and the referee calling a temporary halt to proceedings. He ultimately decided to quit in the ring and the bout was awarded to Till as a second round TKO.
Darren Till’s boxing debut ends in comical brawl as opponent attacks him after the bell
Once the fight had ended, Till was laughing off the situation as he waited to hear what would happen to his MMA fighter rival. But once he had been treated by medical professionals, Mutie began another fight, kicking Till in the leg before being dragged away by a staff member.
They ended up in a multi-man brawl, with Mutie actually landing a takedown on Till before being neutralized as their teams came to blows in the ring. Eventually there were dozens of security guards and team members in the ring, but luckily no serious damage was done.
Promoter Tam Khan quickly took to the ring to apologise to those in attendance, telling fans in the Coca-Cola Arena: “That was uncalled for, that should not be happening so I apologise to everyone for that behaviour from everyone.
“There’s kids in this stadium, there’s women, so that’s uncalled for and I am really annoyed about that. We’ve never seen that but I think that we all know what happened. I’m a neutral, Mohammad is my brother and so is Darren.
“He didn’t want to continue and then he tried to attack him, what do you expect? These guys are fighters but everyone please don’t run in the ring, we’ve got Sheikhs in the house… I apologise to all of you for what you saw.
“This shouldn’t happen, but unfortunately when it’s combat, some things are out of our control. I’m going to pass you on to Darren and apologies from me.”
Darren Till apologises to fans after disaster ending to boxing debut
When given the microphone after the bout, Till was quick to apologise for his actions in the brawl, insisting that he is “not that guy”. He then moved on to his callouts, which included YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul and his long-time rival Mike Perry.
“This is fighting, you get hit,” Till said of the shot that ended the bout. “If you don’t want to continue fighting don’t be a fighter, he’s not a fighter, he’s a coward and then when I’m minding my own business he comes and attacks me.
“But guys, listen, I am so sorry for what’s just happened there, I am not that guy. I’m a respectful guy, I love the sport, I love Dubai, I’ve been coming here since 2016.
“So I do want to apologise but I was standing there minding my own business and he came over to attack me and my team. I’ve got to defend myself, I’m really sorry about that, guys, I really am.”
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