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Darren Till is in for a tough fight at UFC 282, but it’s possible his worst pain is already behind him.
In preparation for his middleweight bout opposite Dricus Du Plessis on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Till found himself on the wrong end of an awful eye poke, the aftermath of which he recently shared to social media as part of a series of photos.
At UFC 282 media day Wednesday in Las Vegas, Till told MMA Fighting’s José Youngs that the poke was so bad he thought his upcoming fight was in jeopardy.
“I was wrestling on the mat, and I shot for a takedown — I don’t know why I’m doing that — it was like the worst thing to ever happen to me,” Till said. “The guy’s middle finger, I felt it go to the back of my brain. I actually tried to carry on wrestling. Anatoly [Malykhin] — he just won in ONE Championship there — he was like, ‘Sit down. Sit your ass down.’
“It actually got worse as the days went on, and then I was actually worried, ‘I can’t pull out of another fight.’ But then it got better and it’s fine. It was one of the worst eye pokes I’ve ever had in my life, probably anyone will have ever seen. It was really bad when it happened. But it’s part of camp, isn’t it?”
Till has had a hard time stringing fights together over the past few years, logging just one fight in 2020 and one in 2021. During this rough stretch, injuries have forced him out of high-profile meetings with Marvin Vettori and Jack Hermansson, the latter on two separate occasions.
When the photo of his eye went up on Instagram, he didn’t realize it would create such a stir, and he didn’t intend to make fans worry that he was going to miss another opportunity to compete.
“I actually didn’t share it,” Till said. “When I share s***, I don’t think. I’ve had to start thinking a bit more now. I just shared my week of training.
“I was in the ice bath and stuff like that, and that eye picture was on my phone because I sent it and I was like, ‘Post that.’ My partner Christian was like, ‘Chael [Sonnen] said you’re posting that to pull out of the fight.’ I was like, ‘What the f*** does that conspiracy theorist know?’ So I don’t know.”
Till is well aware that injuries have slowed his career, but a couple of weeks shy of his 30th birthday, he remains optimistic that better days lie ahead. He is coming off of a lopsided submission loss to Derek Brunson in his most recent outing, and though he credits Brunson for his performance, he noted that he was at less than 100 percent.
“I don’t talk much about the injury, everyone knows I was injured,” Till said. “I couldn’t really do much for the fight, I just didn’t want to pull out of the fight, that was the thing it was back then. Now, I know I’ve got a little bit of a name and people always say I pull out, but I took that fight. I was absolutely f*****. I’m not taking anything away from Derek, he beat me fair and square, but I was only able to prepare for that fight in one way and that was just a little bit of boxing pads and a little bit of the bike.
“I’ve had a good camp this camp, I’ve trained really hard, I’ve had good partners. I think if you look at me, you’re going to look at me on the scale whenever the [weigh-ins are], I’m going to be looking like what I used to look like.”
Till’s opponent Du Plessis had some strong words for him during his own media day scrum, threatening that Till might leave Las Vegas with another injury even if he’s coming into their fight with perfect health.
It’s a threat that Till is taking seriously, though he warns that if Du Plessis wants to escalate their war of words ahead of the fight, it won’t end well for the former KSW champion.
“That’s not trash talk,” Till said. “I’ve met these South Africans, they’ve never used profanity in their life, so they can’t trash talk me. He’s meant to say these things. I know he’s prepared and he’s a solid challenger, but we’ll see. We’ll see. If he wants to get into it though, I’ll ruin his life on social media. Don’t get that twisted.”
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