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TALK SPORT EXCLUSIVE
Darren Till admits he is loving life as a middleweight ahead of his co-main event clash with Kevlin Gastelum at UFC 244. After back-to-back losses at welterweight, ‘The Gorilla’ decided it was time to move up to the 185 lbs division and make his mark among the big boys.
Images released from Till’s training camp in September left fans stunned and horrified in equal measure, with the 6”0 star looking incredibly brawny as he worked on the pads at his beloved Kaobon Gym on Alfred Street. Under the tutelage of mentor and coach Colin Heron, fans speculated which sports scientists and what diet the duo had meticulously worked on ahead of their middleweight assault. But, as Till himself explained to talkSPORT, the reality was far simpler than the fan theories suggested.
“Instead of eating one cheeseburger I would eat two. I didn’t put much thought into it. I go to Colin for every piece of advice and I was always big for welterweight – I was probably walking round as a middleweight but fighting at welter. As I said, the changes were only little tweaks. I know Brian Ortega has changed up his whole camp and that’s probably best for him. But after people lose, like AJ lost to Ruiz, people were telling him to sack his trainer. Don’t get me started, it just f****** p****d me off. It’s like the grass is always greener on the other side and people are just so f****** disloyal and I’m not. As I’ve said from the start, I believe in my team and we win together, we lose together.
“So little small changes is what I think is needed in every fighter. All this ‘when you lose and that needs to be changed’. Maybe you need to change, maybe you’re the problem. You hear of some guys who have been around 10 different gyms in the last five years. In my eyes, they’re the problem and not the gyms. So only little things needed to be changed.”
. . .
For Till, cutting down to 170 lbs was particularly draining and often left the Muay Thai practitioner in agonising pain before bouts – even going temporarily blind before UFC Liverpool.
https://talksport.com/sport/mma/618...fc-244-middleweight-body-height-weight-debut/
Darren Till admits he is loving life as a middleweight ahead of his co-main event clash with Kevlin Gastelum at UFC 244. After back-to-back losses at welterweight, ‘The Gorilla’ decided it was time to move up to the 185 lbs division and make his mark among the big boys.
Images released from Till’s training camp in September left fans stunned and horrified in equal measure, with the 6”0 star looking incredibly brawny as he worked on the pads at his beloved Kaobon Gym on Alfred Street. Under the tutelage of mentor and coach Colin Heron, fans speculated which sports scientists and what diet the duo had meticulously worked on ahead of their middleweight assault. But, as Till himself explained to talkSPORT, the reality was far simpler than the fan theories suggested.
“Instead of eating one cheeseburger I would eat two. I didn’t put much thought into it. I go to Colin for every piece of advice and I was always big for welterweight – I was probably walking round as a middleweight but fighting at welter. As I said, the changes were only little tweaks. I know Brian Ortega has changed up his whole camp and that’s probably best for him. But after people lose, like AJ lost to Ruiz, people were telling him to sack his trainer. Don’t get me started, it just f****** p****d me off. It’s like the grass is always greener on the other side and people are just so f****** disloyal and I’m not. As I’ve said from the start, I believe in my team and we win together, we lose together.
“So little small changes is what I think is needed in every fighter. All this ‘when you lose and that needs to be changed’. Maybe you need to change, maybe you’re the problem. You hear of some guys who have been around 10 different gyms in the last five years. In my eyes, they’re the problem and not the gyms. So only little things needed to be changed.”
. . .
For Till, cutting down to 170 lbs was particularly draining and often left the Muay Thai practitioner in agonising pain before bouts – even going temporarily blind before UFC Liverpool.
https://talksport.com/sport/mma/618...fc-244-middleweight-body-height-weight-debut/
