Darren Till says knee blew out in UFC on ESPN 14 loss to Robert Whittaker, hopes for rematch

ABU DHABI – Darren Till says he suffered a serious injury early in his UFC on ESPN 14 fight with Robert Whittaker, but he’s not using it as an excuse for defeat.

Till (18-3-1 MMA, 6-3-1 UFC) went five tactical rounds with Whittaker (21-5 MMA, 12-3 UFC) in Saturday’s main event at Flash Forum on Yas Island, falling short by one round on all scorecards in a unanimous decision. Although he was right there for all 25 minutes, the Brit admitted post-fight that he had to carry a knee injury, which is likely to require surgery, through most of the contest.

“I’m not that type of guy to make excuses,” Till told reporters, including MMA Junkie, post-fight. “I have to give credit to Rob. In the second round he knee stomped me like I did to Stephen Thompson. They should be illegal. No. It just blew my knee straight out – my knee just (blew) under me, crashed. I couldn’t – that was it for the whole fight. I couldn’t do it the whole fight. I just had to fight. I hid the pain. I don’t think he recognized.

“I don’t want to sit here and say, ‘My knee gone.’ Whatever. Maybe just stopped me bouncing a bit. It was a real good fight. I feel like I won it. I feel like we both won it. We both won the fight. We both won. It was a clinically neat match. Going to get a bit of surgery now. I want to get back in the game. I’ll fix that, and there’s millions of fights out there for me. I’m one of the top guys in this organization, and I’m going to continue to be.”

Despite the fact he was handicapped for most of the fight, Till said he thought he has a case for winning. He felt his power was more effective and led to some big moments for him. It’s the first time in Till’s career that he’s lost by decision, with his previous defeats being a submission to Tyron Woodley and a knockout against Jorge Masvidal.

The emotions were different following this outcome, Till said, and he’s much more at peace with the result.

“I’ve never felt like this after a loss,” Till said. “I feel OK. He was tough. It was probably one of the toughest fights I’ve been in. It was just so stressful. It was such a chess match. Neither guy wants to throw, and when they threw they were looking to knock out. I think I caught him more than he caught me with the power, three or four times, in the first round especially. But I think it was probably 2-2 going into the fifth, and maybe the judges scored the takedown, but I was getting up every time. I don’t know how it works. Close fight. He’s a former champion. I’m up there. I’ve shown it, especially striking. … I’m OK, I am OK.”

Till said he’ll go back to the drawing board after falling to 1-1 as a middleweight. He vowed to eventually hold the 185-pound belt and said he’d go through all comers to get there. If he has his choice, though, he would rematch Whittaker in the former champ’s home country.

“If Rob doesn’t get the title shot, I would love to go to New Zealand and fight with him,” Till said. “It’s up to my coach, Colin, and my team and my family and my friends. Maybe I lacked a few things we worked on in the gym. It was disappointing. But I sit here saying convincingly I’m going to be the champion. Either one could’ve been the guy tonight.”