Anthony Smith believes Darren Till needs to take a big step down in competition: “He’s gonna have to back way up”

Anthony Smith believes Darren Till needs to take a big step down in competition.

It was last Saturday night, December 10th at UFC 282, where Darren Till (18-5 MMA) was defeated by Dricus Du Plessis (18-2 MMA) in a middleweight battle.

It was to be ‘The Gorilla’s’ third loss in a row, giving the 29-year-old the unenviable record of having had only 1 win in his last 6 fights in the Octagon.

Following his most recent loss, Till recorded an ‘Instagram’ video, a portion of which he stated:

“You don’t always get what you want in this life. It’s tough. I’m f***ing 29 now. I’ve been at the top of the sport since 2017, I entered in the UFC in 2015. I’m doing this video because I feel like I should do it now, the right time is now. I’m not retiring, this is not a retirement speech. I’m 29, that would be stupid to decide.”

“I’m not retired, I want to fight. I want to fight soon next year, but now I just want to spend Christmas with my family, have a good time with my friends, and everybody who supports me properly, my team back home.”

Till was obviously disappointed with the results at UFC 282, and while realizing he’s on a losing skid, the fighter hopes that with taking a little time off he can regroup and get back in the winner’s column.

Anthony Smith, speaking on Michael Bisping’s ‘Believe You Me’ podcast has some advice for Darren Till claiming he needs ‘to back way up’:

“He’s got to, and he’s not gonna want to, but he’s gonna have to back way up, and he’s gonna have to give someone way down in the rankings an opportunity. Which he doesn’t want to do. He doesn’t want to do that because he wants to continue to climb, he wants to swing for the fences and get his spot back and look ahead.”

Continuing Anthony Smith said (h/t MMAJunkie):

“But I think the best-case scenario for him is to drop way down and give one of these up-and-comers, these young guys, these unknowns, give them an opportunity to face a big-name guy that holds a decent spot in the rankings and hope that you can use that step down in competition as an opportunity to get your mojo back. The flip side of that is you drop one to one of those guys, you’ve got a big f*cking problem.”

Smith (36-17 MMA) himself is coming off a loss to Magomed Ankalaev (17-1 MMA) back in July of this year at UFC 277. Prior to that TKO loss ‘Lionheart’ was on a 3 fight winning streak. The light heavyweight fighter is preparing for his next battle in March of 2023 at UFC Fight Night 221, with an opponent yet to be named.

Do you agree with Smith that Darren Till needs to ‘back way up’ and let the young up and coming guys have a chance at the big fights?

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