Darren Till

By FCF Staff

Darren Till is praising Kamaru Usman’s championship performance at UFC 235, but the welterweight doesn’t believe now former champ, Tyron Woodley, looked like himself in the match-up.

Woodley faced Usman earlier this month, and lost a one-sided, decision to the well-rounded fighter. The bout marked the first time Woodley had fought, since he submitted Till at UFC 228 last September.

In advance of Till’s fight this Saturday with Jorge Masvidal, the British star was asked to weigh-in on Woodley’s loss to Usman (quote via MMA Junkie):

“To me, and this is no disrespect to Usman in no way: I actually sent Usman a message after the fight congratulating him and saying I can’t wait to fight,” Till said. “I know Usman was chasing me a while back, but now it’s obviously me chasing him. But it just didn’t seem to me like the Woodley team turned up to fight like they did (against) me.”

“…As much as Usman looked so, so good in there like a top-level fighter, Woodley just didn’t seem like the same Woodley as we’ve seen previously. And he’ll still go down as one of the best ever. He just didn’t seem like the guy we knew. And that’s not to take anything away from Usman. He perfected that strategy. But it was a weird fight.”

Till – Masvidal will headline UFC Fight Night 147, which will take place in London, England.