Darren Till was given a much tougher test than expected against Darren Stewart last time out, and admits that he was considering looking for an out despite winning comfortably.
The former UFC middleweights did battle at Misfits Boxing’s last event, and Till lived up to his heavy favorite tag with two knockdowns en route to a dominant decision win. However, after being dropped early and with little boxing pedigree, Stewart impressed with his resilience and fitness throughout.
Now, Till faces ex-UFC champion Luke Rockhold at the AO Arena in Manchester as the headliner for a big night of pay-per-view. And he appears to have finally found a worthy adversary as the pair have regularly had to be separated throughout fight week.
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Darren Till admits he considered quitting during Darren Stewart showdown
Darren Till was always known for his explosive power in the UFC that saw him defeat the likes of Donald Cerrone and Stephen Thompson. However, he sometimes struggled in the later rounds, and admitted to that same issue in his Misfits Boxing 21 headliner with Darren Stewart.
“My coaches and everyone in the gym that I’ve sparred knows how formidably I hit with these gloves on and they were just like ‘how did that man take that? Boulder head!’ I knock people out for fun and I couldn’t knock him out.
“Honestly, around the sixth round I was looking on quitting. I was like ‘nah, I can’t have this any more get me out of this ring, get me paid, I don’t want no more of this’. He hadn’t hurt me, I just couldn’t stop the man.
“It was like every time I hit him it was like Ivan Drago in Rocky where he would just look at me. I think he was dancing at me in the sixth round and I said to my coaches ‘hey, fake an injury let’s get out of the ring now. I’m not really into this no more I don’t really want to be a fighter.’
“I was going ‘can we do something else, can we get into crypto or something?'”
Darren Till now has intense rivalry with Luke Rockhold to settle
After his wins over Darren Stewart and Anthony Taylor, Till is taking a big step-up against former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. And the pair have been sharing a bitter feud all fight week, with the grudge fight coming tonight at the AO Arena.
Eight members of a security team were all that stopped their fight starting more than 24 hours early during yesterday’s ceremonial weigh-in. “I’m going to f—ing k— you,” a shirtless Till screamed. Rockhold replied: “I’m gonna put you down like a f—ing dog. You ain’t got it, Darren.