Darren Till has ‘nothing but good things’ to say about Marvin Vettori after sparring with his middleweight rival in Thailand ahead of UFC 282.
The Gorilla will look to get his career back on track on Saturday night when he takes on Dricus du Plessis at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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Till has suffered four defeats and picked up just one win since earning a shot at Tyron Woodley’s welterweight title in 2018 after an impressive start to his UFC career.
The 29-year-old’s downturn in form has coincided with a spate of injury issues that have also led to a number of his fights being cancelled, including a clash with Vettori.
After trolling his rival with memes comparing him to Sloth from ‘The Goonies’ and calling him an orc, Till withdrew from their April 2021 fight due to a broken collarbone.
The Italian Dream didn’t take his opponent’s withdrawal well and publicly accused Till of faking an injury to avoid what he believed would be another loss for the Scouser.
“I’m getting more suspicious by the day of this thing. I expect him to put out the X-Ray of his collarbone or some stuff. I’m getting a little suspicious,” Vettori said at the time.
Ahead of his latest fight at UFC Paris, against, Robert Whittaker in September, Vettori insisted he is no longer interested in fighting Till who he labelled ‘irrelevant’ and ‘delusional.’
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@darrentill2 – Twitter
The UK MMA standout responded by branding Vettori a ‘big stupid b******’ and insisted they will inevitably meet one day and things could get nasty.
Just a few weeks ago, the middleweight duo bumped into each other in Thailand and put aside their differences to train together, although Till admits he wasn’t sure how their meeting would go.
“I was wrestling in the cage at Tiger Muay Thai and I seen this big c*** come in and I thought who the f*** is that? And he’s turned round and it’s Marvin and I’ve thought, ‘Oh, s*** it’s on,” he told talkSPORT.
“We just shook hands and got some work in straight away. None of this pussyfooting around, like, ‘Oh, I might fight you soon, so we won’t train together.’ We just went at it with each other and the next day and the next day.
The father of four has a very different view of Vettori after spending some time with him and now appears to be done insulting the 185lb contender.
@darrentill2.0 – instagram
@dricusduplessis – instagram
“I’m that guy, I beef with everyone and when I see them you know what type of beef it is. It’s just fight beef, don’t take it too personally,” Till added.
“I thought Marvin actually would, but he was super cool. One of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. Maybe we’ll fight one day but I can’t say nothing but good things about him after meeting him.”
Before a potential fight with Vettori can come to fruition, Till must first get by du Plessis who has been impressive since joining the UFC in October 2020.
The South African brawler picked up two knockout wins to start his UFC career before eking out a bloody decision victory over perennial contender Brad Tavares last time out.
Ahead of UFC 282, he’s revealed his plan is to stop Till before targeting his training partner, Khamzat Chimaev, who is expected to move up to middleweight in 2023.