As he continues his journey in boxing, Darren Till will meet former UFC champion Luke Rockhold this weekend, but things were almost very different for the Brit.
Since making his Octagon debut in 2015, ‘The Gorilla’s tenure in combat sports has been a rollercoaster of mixed results. Firstly, the now-32-year-old went on a six-fight unbeaten streak before losing to Tyron Woodley in his sole shot at UFC gold.
That welterweight title loss saw a turning point in his career, as Darren Till would go on to lose four of his next five fights, leading to his departure from mixed martial arts. However, Till has found much success during his time in boxing, winning each of his three bouts, with two of those victories coming by stoppage.
Till now faces arguably his toughest test between the ropes when he collides with Luke Rockhold at Misfits X Series 22 on August 30. While his focus will be firmly on the task at hand, the scouser claimed that he was close to agreeing to a fight against Nate Diaz instead.
“Nate Diaz was the one that called the fight,” Till said. “He named the time, the place, date, weight, everything.”
“I just said yes because obviously he’s the bigger side. He’s the ‘A’ side. Stuff like that. But then he pulled out, so I’m willing to fight any man.”
Discussing another potential opponent that he was in talks with, Till named Jorge Masvidal.
“I actually Facetimed Masvidal while he was in Thailand and asked him to take the fight. But he showed me his belly, and it looked like he was having a really good time.”
“So, I was like, maybe that fight doesn’t happen. But I’d just love to get that fight back because Masvidal knows I’ll knock him out if we fight, but obviously he’s doing it for the paycheck.”
“He’s got one up on me, so I do need my revenge fight with him. But hopefully it will come one day.”
Darren Till was eyeing fights against Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal before finally settling on Luke Rockhold. pic.twitter.com/fNn5ngpyTf
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) August 27, 2025