Who is Darren Till? Background, next fight, stats and more

Darren Till will have his second professional boxing fight on Friday, taking on fellow UFC graduate Darren Stewart in the latest instalment of Misfits Boxing X-series in Leeds. 

Do not mistake this being his second boxing fight for a lack of combat experience. Till has had over 20 fights as a professional mixed martial arts fighter and a storied career with the UFC.

Here is everything you need to know about Till before his fight. 

Misfits Boxing

MMA record

Total fights: 24

Record: 18-5-1 (10 KOs)

Height: 6’ 0”

Reach: 75”

Age: 32

Boxing record 

Total fights: 1

Record: 1-0 (1 KO)

MMA background

Till began his journey in combat sport as Muay Thai at the age of 12 before moving to train at the Team Kaobon MMA gym in Liverpool at 14. 

As an amateur, the Liverpudlian went 3-0 in England before moving to Brazil and turning professional in 2013. He would have a twelve-fight unbeaten streak in South America before he joined the UFC. 

In 2017, Till took his first UFC fight on nine days’ notice as an injury replacement and faced Wendell de Oliveira at UFC Fight Night 76, winning by knockout. 

Till swiftly proved himself to be a rising star in the welterweight ranks, going four fights unbeaten and claiming victories over legendary UFC fighters Donald Cerrone and Stephen Thompson. 

A title shot was next, against one of the best welterweight champions Dana White’s organisation had ever seen - Tyron Woodley. Till fell short on the night, losing to a submission in the second round. 

This would be the start of a downturn in the career of Till, who had constantly battled with making the 170lbs welterweight limit, losing via knockout to Jorge Masvidal in 2019.

Till moved to middleweight where he would find initial success, defeating world title contender Kelvin Gastelum, before losing three losses to Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson and Dricus Du Plessis. 

This marked the end of his partnership with the UFC, with Till requesting to be released from his contract to pursue other interests. 

Move into boxing

After his UFC departure, Till decided to pursue prize fighting and had a scheduled bout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson undercard. But the fight was cancelled after the main event was rescheduled. 

The Liverpool fighter had an exhibition fight in 2019 in Dubai before signing with KSI’s Misfits Boxing at the start of this year.

His first fight under the Misfits banner was going to be against Tommy Fury, but the Love Island star pulled out after Till threatened to use MMA tactics.

The former UFC star finally made his professional boxing debut in January, knocking out Anthony Taylor in the sixth round.

He now faces Darren Stewart on Friday.