UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley says he will fight Darren Till at UFC 228, even if his opponent does not make weight ahead of the title bout on Sept. 8.
“I’m chasing greatness,” Woodley told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani on Monday. “If he doesn’t make weight, he takes away for me the opportunity to add a fourth title defense on my résumé. Whether he’s 176 or 170 on the dot, he’s still going to get that ass-whopping.”
If Till does not make weight, he will not be eligible for a chance at the belt. This happened in June when Yoel Romero failed to do so before a middleweight title fight against Robert Whittaker but still competed the next night.
Till has had issues cutting weight in the past. In his most recent matchup against Stephen Thompson in May, the 25-year-old came in 3.5 pounds over the 171-pound limit. The fight was made official after both sides negotiated a financial agreement. Till went on to defeat Thompson by unanimous decision.
Prior to the fight, a video of Till attempting to make weight surfaced that went viral online. He was clearly in pain and at one point mentioned not being able to see straight. Till later told ESPN the reaction to the video was overblown.
“I was cutting weight, stopped running and sort of felt a bit dizzy because I was up early, and I didn’t have any food all night or water and I was still trying to cut weight,” Till said. “So it wasn’t that I couldn’t see or I was in a bad way, I just felt dizzy. You know anytime you try and stand up too quick? That’s sort of how I felt.”
Fellow welterweight contender Kamaru Usman recently announced he was officially a backup for the UFC 228 title fight in case something happened to either Woodley or Till. He will be paid to train for the fight and make weight a day prior with no guarantee of actually stepping into the Octagon.
If it were up to Woodley, there’s a “zero percent chance” Usman will step into the Octagon.
“Me and Usman will fight at some point in time,” Woodley says. “But I’m not going to fight you on under 24-hour notice. I’ve been training for a 6-foot-3 striker, southpaw. Not a 5-foot-10 wrestler. Negative.
“I’m a world champion. I deserve proper notice. I deserve proper time to prepare and train for a world title I’ve worked so hard for. If he wants to fight me, it’s going to be a full training camp. I’ll gladly take that if offered.”
Woodley has not lost a fight since 2014 when he fell to Rory MacDonald by unanimous decision at UFC 174. He claimed the welterweight belt after knocking out Robbie Lawler in the first round of UFC 201 in July. Woodley is coming off a unanimous decision win against Demian Maia in July 2017.
Till is 5-0-1 since joining the UFC in May of 2015. He stepped in to fight Woodley after the UFC failed to come to an agreement with interim champion Colby Covington. The UFC, ESPN and others have reported, plan to strip Covington of that belt.