Daren Till made his debut in the middleweight division and for his first fight at 185-pounds, Till faced and defeated former UFC Middleweight Championship contender Kelvin Gastelum.
Darren Till wins middleweight debut
The 26-year old Liverpudlian opted to make the move up to 185 pounds after suffering two knockout losses in a row and immediately jumped into the deep end of the division by facing former interim title contender Kelvin Gastelum in his debut.
In the opening few minutes, it was Gastelum who started off the fight in a convincing manner as he had control over Till, but with two minutes remaining in the first round, Till finally got away and found an opening and landed two punches, as the round ends with the latter connecting with a solid left.
The second round began with Gastelum looking to get a grip of the fight, however, Till kept his composure and kept connecting with some solid shots before eventually being eye poked by the former. The fight resumes after a brief pause and Till continues the dominance throughout the round, as the latter ends the round with some solid counters.
The final round began with Till landing a solid punch but Gastelum easily shook it off. Till keeps going at it and connects with punches, elbows, and some solid kicks as well. Gastelum, for one, got a late takedown followed by another but Till managed to keep his composure as the round eventually came to a close.
As we went to judges scorecard, Till won the fight via unanimous decision, winning his first fight in Middleweight with two scorecards reading 30-27 and 29-28 in his favor with the third going 30-27 for the former “Ultimate Fighter” winner.
After winning, Till said, “I proved a lot of doubters wrong. I’m just happy to be here right now. I want to build myself back up.”
