Darren Till says UFC offered him Sean Strickland fight, hopes to headline rumored London card in March

Despite his recent setbacks, Darren Till still is targeting the top of the middleweight division.

Till has lost four of his past five and is coming off back-to-back losses to former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and resurging contender Derek Brunson at UFC Fight Night 191 in September.

Following his loss to Brunson, the native of Liverpool, England, spent three months in Las Vegas, making the most of the UFC Performance Institute as well as training at Syndicate MMA. But Till also had several conversations with the UFC brass while in Las Vegas, and a couple names were discussed for his next fight.

Till (18-4-1 MMA, 6-4-1 UFC) told Michael Bisping that he expressed interest in facing Jared Cannonier and also was offered a fight with Sean Strickland (24-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC).

“They were like, ‘Who do you want to fight?’ and I was like, ‘Jared Cannonier is a good one,’” Till said on the “Believe You Me” podcast. “They were like, ‘Oh really? Jared already?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, of course.’ But there were a few options they threw out to me, and one fight I really liked was Sean Strickland. They offered him, as well. I actually said to Sean, because I’ve seen him a few times, I said, ‘Sean, if you want to get it on at some point, let’s do it because I think you’re a good fighter. I think it would be a good fight.’ So I’m still fighting the top, and that’s how it is. We’re just grinding. That’s all I’m doing.”

Till hopes he can headline the rumored London UFC card in March and have his Team Kaobon training partners compete on the same night with him.

“Hopefully a good, solid card there,” Till said. “(I’d want the) main event, obviously. We’ll have all our guys on from Kaobon and all the other guys from Liverpool and all around the U.K. and in Europe, so I think that’s going to be a good card. That’s what it’s looking like, but we’ll see.”

Although Till didn’t acknowledge it, Bisping revealed that Till tore his ACL 10 weeks out of his fight with Brunson. Till was taken down three times by Brunson and eventually was submitted in Round 3. Although Till is not one to shy away from criticism, he doesn’t think the Brunson loss paints an accurate picture of his wrestling skills.

“I think I’ve got, right now in the middleweight division, the second highest rate takedown defense,” Till said. “I’m not in this mindset of, ‘Oh, now I need to work wrestling.’ Mate, I know how good my takedown defense is. If anyone has watched the fight of mine before Derek Brunson, watch it. Guys take me down, and I bounce back up. Robert Whittaker, everyone knew I had a torn MCL from when he kicked me. He took me down twice in the fifth round, and I bounced back up. People do not hold me down. Derek did hold me down – props to him.”