Following a big underdog win against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 244, Darren Till is looking to keep his momentum going with another big fight in the middleweight division. Till has been seeking a bout with Jared Cannonier in recent weeks and both fighters have verbally agreed to the fight. Cannonier is without an opponent after initially being scheduled to face Robert Whittaker at UFC 248. Whittaker of withdrew from the contest for personal reasons, reportedly to spend time with his sick daughter.
Since Whittaker’s withdrawal, Darren Till has been angling to be the replacement. Both Darren “the gorilla” Till and Jared “the killa gorilla” have agreed to the fight, as stated above, but there are snags to the battle of gorillas. Till’s visa issues are once again an issue, as they were with his most recent fight. The Liverpool native arrived in New York late, likely due to visa issues.
In an effort to deal with the visa mess, Till tweeted at President Trump and asked if he could sort it out. “Do me the favour of getting my visa for UFC 248 so I can fight please. Surely you can pull some strings” Till tweeted at Trump, tagging his account.
Whether Trump comes through for Till or not, the word is that the fight is not likely to take place at UFC 248. “Based on conversations I’ve had, a potentially sweet middleweight fight between Darren Till and Jared Cannonier is NOT going to happen on March 7 in Las Vegas” ESPN’s Brett Okamoto said in a tweet.
An already stacked card, it makes sense that the UFC would be in no rush to book this for 248, especially given the visa issues. Still, Darren Till vs. Jared Cannonier is one of the most relevant fights to make for the division, so we can only hope it gets finalized one way or another.