Darren Till confirms UFC return stance as Tommy Fury's 'pathetic excuses' slammed
Darren Till has revealed he could still make a sensational return to the UFC as he prepares for his Misfits debut tomorrow night. Till swapped the octagon for the squared circle after he parted ways with the UFC in March 2023, and he kicked off his boxing career back in July 2024 with a technical knockout victory over Mohammad Mutie, but the fight was marred by a mass brawl that erupted following the end of the bout.
He will make his return to the ring on Saturday night at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester when he takes on Anthony 'Pretty Boy' Taylor on the Misfits X Series 20 card. But speaking ahead of the bout, Till admitted that while he would love to box Jake Paul by the end of this year, he also wouldn’t close the door on a return to the UFC.
He said: “I think the goal, and I don’t want to call it an influencer space because I don’t think Jake Paul is an influencer anymore; he is a good boxer, but I think going through stages. I think KSI, a grudge match with Mike Perry and Tommy if he is there, who knows, then ultimately Jake Paul, then that would be me done.
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“I can then sit back and review things. I have still got that great relationship with the UFC. Would I go back there? But there is also the GFC League, which has just been created in MMA as well.
“There are a lot of opportunities for me. I am just going to take it step by step. I am going to do this fight, and then whatever comes after that comes after that. I don’t want to dive straight in.”
Asked directly if he could one day return to the UFC, Till replied: “I think it just depends on how I feel. As I say, the way I have trained has not been suitable to the way it should be.
“I have come up with injuries and put them to the back of my brain and just carried on training. So it just depends on how my body is going to be feeling, to be honest, at the time.
“I train smarter now than the way I used to. I think it all depends on how I feel in two years mentally and physically. Right now I feel great, but a lot can change in two years when you are fighting constantly, which is what I want to do now.”
Till was originally supposed to square off against Tommy Fury in Manchester, but the latter pulled out of this weekend’s bout back in December. Fury elected to withdraw from the fight after his rival made a vow to break the fight rules and use MMA moves during a heated press conference to sell the fight.
And Till, who has been training with Joe McNally for tonight's fight, has been left furious by what he describes as 'pathetic excuses' made by the former Love Island star.
“Over the years I have been an avid follower of the Furys, and I have watched every fight of Tyson’s, and I have always been a fan,” he said. “I think he is one of the best boxers we have had from Britain.
“I have always seen John at the forefront and making himself known, being a nuisance and stuff like that. Little old me, I am on my own; these are going to be right up for it if I start my shenanigans, which I am known for doing.
“You can say it has backfired on me because I have said all this s**t expecting war with them, but they have just gone the other way. It was quite confusing.
“I heard an interview he did, with I think iFL TV, where he was stating that I was apparently speaking with betting companies about kicking him in the head.
“If that is the level [he is going to go to], this is why I can’t respect it. The fact he has gone with the head kick and spoken to betting companies, it is a pathetic excuses.
“I just can’t respect him, and he is going to have something to say about it. At the end of the day, he pulled out of a fight because of words said to him.
“He knows what was in the contract, and he knows if I would have used any illegal moves, I wouldn’t have got paid, and I would have been disqualified.
“I am not looking to get into boxing to get disqualified and look like a clown; it was very sheepish on his side.”
Till’s fight with Taylor tops the bill for this weekend’s card, and the former MMA man believes he will stop his American rival in round four or five.
“I think he is going to run for a few rounds, and then I think the pressure is going to get to him, and I think I will get him out of there in round four or five,” he predicted.