Darren Till names the opponents he wants to fight after “Wonderboy”

On May 27, when the UFC touches down in his native Liverpool, England, Darren Till has the chance to propel himself to the uppermost reaches of the UFC welterweight division, as he’s set to battle fellow striking specialist and two-time former welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

While the evermore popular Till will be fighting in front of a partisan crowd, he believes the majority of fight fans are hoping he comes up short to Wonderboy in Liverpool.

“Mate, I can tell you right now that 90% of people can’t wait for me to lose on May 27 to Wonderboy,” Till said on the TSN MMA Show (via MMANytt). “They want the so-called hype train to stop. I can’t tell you how many happy faces there are going to be if I get beat, but do you think I give a f**k about them? I couldn’t give a f**k about what anyone thinks, what my Mum thinks, what anyone [thinks].”

“I’m putting in the hard work and putting my body through pain and pressure, so if people want to see me lose, ok, if people want to see me win, ok, it doesn’t matter as long as they tune in to see an absolute war.”

While it’s possible that a win over Wonderboy could earn Darren Till a crack at the UFC welterweight title, he understands it might not happen. The Brit realizes there are many other viable contenders in line at this juncture, and he’ll be satisfied as long as he matched up with one of them.

“Wonderboy has beaten everyone, so if I beat him, obviously it looks like I’m in line for a title shot, but I’m not really bothered if the UFC book it or they don’t,” Till said.

“There are other guys that deserve it before me, so I just want to beat Wonderboy and let the welterweight division take it’s course because sooner or later I know it’s going to end up with me having the belt.

“When I beat Wonderboy I feel like I want to take on Colby [Covington], [Kamaru] Usman, [Rafael dos Anjos], [Jorge] Masvidal, one of those guys,” he continued. “When I beat Wonderboy those are the guys that I’m looking at next.

“All the guys I’ve called out are real, hard guys. At the end of the day, in order to be the best in the world, you have to fight the best. Those guy are the best so they’re all in my sights. They’ve got a target on their back.”

Who do you want to see Darren Till fight next if he gets passed Wonderboy?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/4/2018.