Daniel Cormier thinks UFC 282 is a must win for Darren Till if he wants to stay relevant in the title picture.
Till (18-4 MMA, 6-4-1 UFC) meets Dricus Du Plessis (17-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) on Saturday’s main card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and early prelims on ESPN+.
Till has lost four of his past five, but the setbacks have come to top-level competition. However, if Till loses to rising contender Du Plessis, Cormier sees it as a major setback.
“It’s not like Darren Till hasn’t fought really high-level competition well,” Cormier said on his “DC & RC” ESPN show. “Darren Till was at one point fighting for the welterweight championship of the world, went up to 185, fought Robert Whittaker in a very competitive fight, and we know how good Robert Whittaker is, but we need to see consistency.”
He continued, “The one thing about Till is, he’s very popular. People still recognize him and honestly, before Leon Edwards became the champ, Till was still the most popular English fighter because he’s recognizable and he’s got a big personality. He’s a character, but the reality is, the character only gets you so far. You’ve got to win fights.”
Till has tried to make some changes by training with unbeaten star Khamzat Chimaev at Allstars Training Center in Sweden. In Du Plessis, Till faces a dangerous finisher and Cormier thinks he needs to have a standout performance to gain his momentum back.
“Darren Till’s got that skillset, he’s training out of Sweden now with those guys like Khamzat and Andreas Michael and the whole team at Allstars MMA,” Cormier added. “He has to implement what they teach and has to do it in a way that reminds everyone who Darren Till is and was between 170 and 185. He’s still young enough to make another run towards a championship opportunity. But it all starts Saturday, and if he can’t get past Du Plessis, it might be over for the time being for Till, but it would skyrocket Dricus up the rankings into very, very important fights.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 282.
