It is every fighter’s worst nightmare being knocked out on home soil in your big comeback fight. For Darren Till at UFC London last March, it was the first time in his career he’d been put to sleep by an opponent.
Not only was it another hit to his reputation, but it was a crushing blow to Till’s famously unwavering confidence.
Jorge Masvidal was the man to send Till to the canvas and he is now headlining UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden, an event at which Till is co-main in his middleweight debut. Till is on the first losing streak of his MMA career and speaking to Metro.co.uk, the 26-year-old explained how he’s had to continue picking himself up, well after fight night ended.
‘Your confidence gets knocked,’ he said. ‘You have to shout at those demons in your head and say “shut up!”
‘I was worried. I’d never been knocked out and then was knocked out. I went in to see [my coach] Colin Heron. I said to Colin in the ring “I don’t know anymore”.
‘I was talking about the knockout and he said: “And what? You got knocked out. It’s not the end of the world. It doesn’t mean you’ve got a soft chin, it just means you got caught with a shot you didn’t see”.
‘It put a lot of things into perspective with me. Freddie Roach says the same. He said the exact same things after his first knockout that I was hearing in my head.
‘After speaking to Colin, it confirmed it all for me. I had to have a word with myself.’
Colin Heron, Till’s head coach at Liverpool’s Team Kaobon, recalled this same conversation after a bitterly disappointing night at UFC London.
‘First time you’ve been knocked out, you start questioning yourself,’ he said.
‘You go from a supremely confident fighter who openly puts it out there how confident you are to being knocked out. And not just being knocked out, but knocked out in front of a couple of million people. It’s a hard pill to swallow. He’s still only young.
‘We obviously have an issue with maturity with Darren. It’s a case of assuring him that this is a combat sport and you will get hit.
‘At some point, you will get knocked out. Let’s be realistic, it could possibly happen again. That’s what you signed up for. It doesn’t mean you’re no good.
‘It doesn’t mean you’ve got a suspect chin. It just means you got caught at the right point at the right time by another fighter.’
At 17-2-1 and 26 years old, Till is only at the beginning of his time at the top level of MMA. He has already challenged for the UFC title, a fight he lost to then champion Tyron Woodley 13 months ago. He begins a new chapter of his career at middleweight against Kelvin Gastelum on Saturday night.
‘You can’t sit and dwell on it,’ was the advice from Till’s sparring partner and team-mate Mike Grundy. Gastelum is certainly capable of knocking Till out. As a season middleweight contender, Gastelum was a risky fight for Till to take. It’s hardly a soft introduction to a new division. Uncertainty continues to play on Till’s mind, but he explained it’s a daily process turning back the tide of doubt.
‘I don’t need the negativity. You have to work on yourself with your team and your trainer. It’s an internal thing,’ Till said.
‘You’ve got to tell the demons to shut up. It’s more of an internal thing, you have to continue to work on yourself.
‘And I’ll continue to do that until I die. You’ve got to work on yourself. You’ve got to learn from mistakes. That’s a person. That’s what I try to do everyday.’
Till is still confident in his abilities. ‘He’ll be champion at both welter and middleweight,’ Heron says. Till remains outspoken, but now when he speaks, Till sounds like a fighter who has come to terms with the reality of defeat.
‘If Kelvin has so much more strength and power than me then it’ll be a bad night for me,’ he conceded.
‘There’s not much I can say about that. Either I go in there and get fight of the night or I go in there and lose.
‘Whatever happens, I can tell you I don’t really care. As long as I train hard and give it my all, it’s not a loss for me.’
‘Either you’re prepared to fight the best or you’re not. If you won’t, think about doing something else,’ Till continued.
‘I’ve got two torn knees and broken hands. Day after day I’m putting my body through so much s***.
‘It’s alright though, it’s honest.’
Watch UFC® 244: MASVIDAL vs. DIAZ on Sat Nov 2, with prelims live on UFC FIGHT PASS at 10.15pm and the main card exclusively live on BT Sport 1 at 2am
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