Welcome To Hell

Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC

I will be tremendously disappointed if Darren Till does not walk out to this song from War.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is less than one month away from his UFC Abu Dhabi main event against Darren Till, which takes place on Sat., July 25, 2020 on Yas Island.

And even though Whittaker has been mildly amused by Till’s recent comedic campaign on social media, “The Reaper” has no plans to make friends with “The Gorilla” — or anyone else for that matter — in the 185-pound division.

“Let me just say, I have no friends in the middleweight division,” Whittaker told Submission Radio. “I can’t be friends with anybody I could be fighting. It’s cool to be lined up with a guy that isn’t acting like a Gronk, but at the end of the day, he’s coming to take what’s mine and I’m coming to take what’s his, and that’s the game we’re in. That’s the fight game, that’s the fight world.”

This marks Whittaker’s first fight since coughing up his 185-pound strap to Israel Adesanya at UFC 243 last October. The defeat snapped the Aussie’s nine-fight win streak, which dated back to his days competing at welterweight.

A place not unfamiliar to Till.

“Honestly, I think he’s got a good skillset, but I think, honestly, I think I’m better across the board,” Whittaker continued. “I also hope I can get him out of there very quickly. And it’s not gonna be due to a lack of trying, trust me. But I’m prepared to make it a slugfest, I’m prepared to make it hell. I’m going to go in there and I’m gonna do my thing. And how it happens and how it works is, I’m gonna take the win where I see it.”

For the rest of the July 25 fight card and ESPN+ line up click here.