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English middleweight star Darren Till said that he suffered a gruesome eye poke ahead of his UFC 282 contest, and although his eye is fine now, it was one of the worst injuries he’s dealt with.
That’s what the scouser said to MMA Fighting’s Jose Young during fight week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Till (18-4-1) is scheduled to fight Dricus Du Plessis (17-2) on the promotion’s final pay-per-view card of 2022. December 10 will mark the middleweight’s first fight since his September 2021 defeat to Derek Brunson.
Till was originally scheduled to fight Jack Hermansson in July during the UFC’s return to London, England, however he was forced out of the match due to injury. It wasn’t the first time the Englishman pulled out of a bout. In fact, within the past year and change, Till has pulled out of multiple matches, including a headlining scrap with Marvin Vettori in March 2021.
And Till said to Young that the eye injury had him “worried” that he would’ve had to drop out of yet another fight.
“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 a** 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 Said He Was ‘Absolutely F*****’ Going Into the Brunson Fight
It was a tough night at the office for Till when he dueled Brunson. After getting dominated on the ground, Brunson eventually locked in a rear-naked choke and submitted the scouser.
According to Till, however, he was severely compromised going into the showdown.
“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.
Till Plans to Get Back to His Winning Ways at UFC 282
Till is 1-4 in his last five contests, which include back-to-back defeats to Brunson and Robert Whittaker. But, Till plans on returning to form on Saturday night.
“I’ve had a good camp this camp, I’ve trained really hard, I’ve had good partners,” Till said. “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.”
For Du Plessis, he’ll look to add the biggest name to his resume thus far and further extend his win streak to six.
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