Darren Till is not happy with the current state of the UFC.
The former UFC welterweight title challenger, who opted to part ways with the promotion after a submission loss to current middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis in December 2022, doesn’t think the UFC has the same buzz it used to when he was actively competing.
UFC CEO Dana White announced a slew of big fights Tuesday, such as Ilia Topuria vs. Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 and Dricus Du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319, but Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall is yet to materialize.
“I get messages every day from people like, ‘When are you coming back? We need a superstar,'” Till said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “Now granted, look, I’m from Liverpool, and there’s a guy flying the flag for Liverpool right now, Paddy (Pimblett). There’s still superstars in the UFC, but it does feel like it’s dampened a little bit. Fights aren’t getting made. I don’t know, it just all seems a little bit fake and stuff like that as well. It seems sh*t at the moment. I want to go on a rant, but I don’t. It just seems sh*t at the moment.
“It seems like when I was in the welterweight division, it seemed like there was just killers’ row. Now the welterweight division just seems sh*t. I’m sorry to say the welterweight division is on its ass. The lightweight division, I feel like, is on its ass. The featherweight division, on its ass. The middleweight division, probably the best one for me at the moment. Light heavyweight on its ass. Heavyweight on its ass. It’s just on its ass. But I do love the UFC. I love Dana, I love what they do. But right now it just seems like it’s on its ass a bit. We want a bit of spark back. I feel like there’s a few things missing.”
Till laces up the gloves against fellow ex-UFC fighter Darren Stewart in Friday’s Misfits Boxing 21 headliner in Derby at the Vaillant Live.
