Darren Till targets summer return, still interested in fighting Sean Strickland

Darren Till has his eyes on a surging middleweight contender.

Till hasn’t competed since a submission loss to Derek Brunson in September, marking his fourth loss in his past five outings. In November, Till (18-4-1 MMA, 6-4-1 UFC) revealed that he was offered a fight with Sean Strickland, but the matchup never materialized.

But despite being on a different career trajectory than Strickland (25-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC), Till thinks it would make for an entertaining fight.

“I would like to fight Sean Strickland,” Till said in an interview with Freak MMA. I don’t know if that fight could happen. I know he’s on a good win streak, and I’m coming off a loss, but I think it would be a good fight, where like trashtalk and standup fighting with each other. I’d like to fight Sean Strickland if that opportunity came about. As I said, I respect him, and I know he’s on a win streak, but I think it would be a good fight.”

Strickland notched his sixth straight win when he defeated Jack Hermansson in the main event of UFC Fight Night 200. If he doesn’t get Strickland next, Till said he would be open to facing Hermansson or numerous other fighters to kick off the new UFC deal that he recently inked.

“He could be, as well,” Till said on Hermansson. “He’s coming off a loss to Sean, so that’s a possibility. It could be Jack, as well. I don’t know. There’s a lot of options. There’s a lot of opportunities. I’ve signed a new contract with the UFC anyway, so I’ve got another like four or five-fight contract thanks to my coach. My coach sorted that.”

Ten weeks prior to his fight with Brunson, Till tore his ACL. The fan favorite will miss out on the UFC London card in March and realistically thinks he’ll be ready to compete by summer.

“I don’t know because I need to get healthy first,” Till said on his return. “I need to get my body healthy and my mind healthy before I think about fighting again, so I want to make sure I’m 100 percent next time I fight, like body and mind. So I’m definitely going to fight this year like two or three times, but I don’t know when. Obviously the London show I’m not on, so it’ll be after that, probably in the summer. It’ll either be in America or here or somewhere else in Europe maybe or anywhere, South America or wherever. But I’m just trying to get fit and healthy first.”