Darren Till updates on UFC 228 weight cut: “It’s been tough on me”
Darren Till missed weight for his last fight, a May decision defeat of Stephen Thompson. As a result, he’s got a lot of eyes on him as he prepares for his UFC 228 title fight with UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. If he misses weight again, after all, he will not be eligible to win the title.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Till did not deny that his cut down to the welterweight division’s 170-pound limit has been miserable. That said, he seems to be on track.
“It’s shit. It’s shit. It’s f*cking, I hate cutting weight, I hate making weight, I hate dieting,” Darren Till said (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I’m gonna make this weight, so I can’t wait to [put up my middle fingers] when I step on them scales. I’m just, I’m in that moment now where I just, I don’t want to train anymore, I don’t want to eat good anymore. I just wish I had a hamburger in front of me, but it’s all sacrifices and I made a mistake last time. I just can’t wait to say f*ck you to everyone who just keeps babbling on about weight and, ‘He didn’t make weight, f*ck Till.’ F*ck them.”
Darren Till added that his intense dieting for this fight has made me a bit moody.
“I’m just, this camp, as much as it’s been short, it’s been tough on me,” Till said. “So I think just these next few days, I’m just in a bit of a mood. Because as I said, back home, I get to the gym, I do my work, what needs to be done, and I leave the gym and I don’t see anyone until late in the night. Now it’s sorta like, I feel like the cameras are always on me, I feel like there’s people always just nagging me here, there, everywhere. And it is part and parcel. If someone brought me a McDonald’s right now I’d cheer right up, but it’s what it is.
“I’m not a moody person, I’ve just woke up in one of them moods. I’m tired. I just want the fight to be here. I’ve done all of my work. I’m ready for five rounds, I’m ready for one round. I’m fit. I’ve really put all of my effort into training, into dieting, into being the best me. So I’m just having a few off days.”
Till also commented on the UFC’s choice to cast Kamaru Usman as an understudy. Though Woodley has said he’ll fight Till if he misses weight, and that he won’t fight Usman on short notice, the idea is that Usman will replace either man if they’re unable to fight.
“To be honest, right, I don’t really care,” Till said of Usman. “I feel like I’m the only fighter who’s ever missed weight in the UFC, to be totally honest. I feel like anyone, when we talk about weight now, it’s Darren Till, Darren Till, all of this. I missed weight — people just need to get off it.
“If Usman’s there and ready, and by some chance I miss weight entirely — Tyron said he wasn’t going to fight him, I saw, but it is what it is. They’ve got their back-up. Usman, they’ve told him, he’s doing what he’s told, so I’m just not arsed. I’m just focused on Friday, making 170, and then Saturday, going in and absolutely fucking destroying Tyron Woodley. That’s all I’m focused on right now.”
Do you think Darren Till will make weight for UFC 228?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/29/2018.
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