Fighters often enter the cage with some sort of physical affliction, and UFC middleweight Derek Brunson was not surprised to hear his most recent opponent was dealing with an injury when they fought.
At UFC Fight Night 191, Brunson (23-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) faced Darren Till (18-4-1 MMA, 6-4-1 UFC) in the main event at the UFC Apex. Brunson finished the fight in the third round via rear-naked choke submission to make it five wins straight. However, shortly after the fight, former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping revealed in an interview that Till suffered a torn ACL 10 weeks prior to their meeting.
Brunson was not surprised to hear the news because he knows fighters, himself included, rarely enter the cage fully healthy, but also because he feels people try to diminish his accomplishments.
“I’m used to people trying to minimize my wins or trying to throw a little salt,” Brunson told MMA Junkie. “Not saying Michael was trying to do that, but all fighters are injured 24/7. Look at myself, everybody’s banged up. It’s almost like who’s less banged up going into the fight.”
Till did not mention the injury to his knee prior to the fight and has yet to address the issue since. However, his coach Colin Heron has spoken about the situation in the aftermath of the bout.
“It happened about nine weeks out, wrestling,” Heron told ESPN. “We got it scanned, looked at properly. The results came back as a completely torn ACL.”
According to Heron, Till insisted on resting a couple of weeks and giving it a shot in the training room, in hopes of avoiding surgery and a lengthy recovery period that could have sidelined him for over six months to a full year.
Till’s insistence on competing against Brunson was a big risk that did not pay off in his favor. At 28 years of age, he has plenty of time to climb back up the middleweight ladder to overcome his 1-4 skid since earning a shot at the welterweight title.
The older Brunson, 37, doesn’t have the same luxury of time on his side, therefore each moment of each fight means everything at this point in his career as he hunts for an opportunity for a rematch against now-champ Israel Adesanya.
Watch Brunson speak about Till’s injury in the video above and check out the full interview below.
