Darren Till is known to keep it real and give credit where credit is due.
Speaking in a pre-fight media scrum at the UFC Gym in Nottingham, England, Till praised welterweight title challenger Colby Covington for his fighting ability, despite the fact that he talks a lot of trash.
“Look what he’s done to (Robbie) Lawler. A lot of people said Lawler wasn’t the same; I don’t feel like that,” Till said. “I feel like Colby was just too much for Lawler, so when you break a fight down … because people hate Colby so much and take what he says so personal, they just want (Kamaru) Usman to win. They’re not looking at Colby. Colby is actually a terrific fighter. Forget all the (expletive) he says, because he’s just an idiot. He’s actually a terrific fighter.”
Covington is set to challenge welterweight champion Usman in the main event of UFC 245, and while Till sees a lot of similarities in their games, he believes Usman has the slight advantage.
“I think if you put them both together, they’re the same fighter,” Till said. “I think Usman has everything that Colby has, just a bit better. I think he’s got more power. I don’t know who’s got the bigger gas tank. I know that Colby has an unbelievable gas tank, so I think Usman just edges it.”
Till, who will be making the move up to middleweight against Kelvin Gastelum next month at UFC 244, has not ruled out a move back down to 170 pounds in the future. While he’s never had any real altercations with Covington, he’s had his fair share of trash talk with Usman in the past. But a potential fight likely won’t happen in the near future, considering that Usman is the welterweight champ and Till is pursuing 185.
“Not really. Me and him, we had a little bit of chatter but never really crossed paths,” Till said of Covington. “I feel like he’s on a totally different path. I feel like that fight with Usman was always a fight I wanted, as much as a lot of people tried to avoid him. That was a fight I wanted to get and obviously with him being the champ now.”
