Darren Till gav allt i oktagonen denna helg och en tidig skada kan nu hålla honom borta från buren under överskådlig framtid.
Mellanviktsfightern gick fem ronder mot forne mästaren Robert Whittaker i huvudmatchen men fick se sig besegrad via enhälligt domslut med poängen 48-47 x3 till segrarens favör.
Även som en blåslagen Till sade att han kände sig bra efteråt erkände vid gårdagens post-fight presskonferens att han drabbades av en knäskada under matchen.
I don’t like to sit here and I’m not the type [to make] excuses, but I have to give credit to Rob in the second round. He knee stomped me, like I did to Stephen Thompson—They should be illegal (laughs)—It just blew my knee, like my knee just went *pwooo* under me, crashed. That was it then for the whole fight. I just had to stay static and sort of just fight on it.
I hid the pain even, I don’t think he recognized. But I was still in there. I’m not trying to sit here and say, ‘Oh me knee gone,’ whatever. Maybe it just stopped me bouncing a bit, but it was a real good fight. I feel like I won it. I feel like we both won the fight—I’m not saying I feel like I won it, it’s just we both won. It was a clinically great match.
När det kommer till hur skadan ska åtgärdas kunde Till inte klassa hur allvarlig skadan var men han tror att han kommer behöva opereras för det senare:
Probably gonna get a little bit of surgery now. That’s nothing. I want to get back in the gym. Fix that, get back in the gym, and there’s million of fights out there for me, and I’m one of the top guys in this organization and I’m gonna continue to be.
Med sin andra raka starka match i mellanvikt (efter att ha besegrat Kelvin Gastelum via delat domslut i november) verkar Till trots förlusten ändå ha gott om alternativ i viktklassen däribland svenske Jack Hermansson och Jared Cannonier.
Till säger att han även är intresserad av att åka till Whittakers hemplatser för att gå en rematch och han hoppas så klart möta mellanviktsmästaren Israel Adesanya. I nuläget är han dock fokuserad på att läka och glädja sig över en stark match:
There’s a few fights there. If Rob doesn’t get a title shot, I’d love to go to New Zealand and fight Rob again. I really enjoyed the fight with him. I was fit for five rounds. That’s all thanks to my coach Colin and my team and my family and my close friends. Colin gets me ready for every fight and I was ready for this fight.
Maybe I lacked a few things that we worked on in the gym and it’s a little bit disappointing. But I say this here convincingly, I am gonna be a champion. These are are all just little walls that you face, but it’s not like I lost and I’m thinking, ‘Awwww.’ Either man could have won that fight tonight. I was the guy, I was the more powerful guy, I was landing the more powerful shots, Rob was the busier guy. That’s just sometimes how the fight is. Some judges could see the power shots in the fight, and other judges like tonight saw the busier fighter won the fight. I just thought we both won. He obviously won, but in my mind we both won.
Nedan kan ni se post-fight presskonferensen med Till:
