Darren Till knows Tyron Woodley didn’t show up to fight Kamaru Usman
Tyron Woodley was looking to defend his belt once again and continuing his run of being one of the best welterweights ever. However, that was not the case as Kamaru Usman dominated Woodley from bell to bell. A reason why according to Darren Till is because Woodley just didn’t show up to fight.
“To me, and this is no disrespect to Usman in no way: I actually sent Usman a message after the fight congratulating him and saying I can’t wait to fight,” Till told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “I know Usman was chasing me a while back, but now it’s obviously me chasing him. But it just didn’t seem to me like the Woodley team turned up to fight like they did (against) me.”
Why Tyron Woodley didn’t fight the same to Usman as he did to Darren Till is simple according to the Englishman. Till believes Woodley was scared to fight him, as most people are. But, when he was fighting Usman, he thought there was no way he could lose.
“I know when he was fighting me, he was scared,” Till said. “When you’re fighting a guy like me, you have to be scared. You know what I bring to the table. And he said that openly. I could feel fear, but that fear drove him on. He was so powerful and quick and aggressive.
“As much as Usman looked so, so good in there like a top-level fighter, Woodley just didn’t seem like the same Woodley as we’ve seen previously. And he’ll still go down as one of the best ever. He just didn’t seem like the guy we knew. And that’s not to take anything away from Usman. He perfected that strategy. But it was a weird fight.”
In the end, Woodley lost his belt in dominating fashion. Although he dominated Till in the fight previous, Till still hopes to get that win back. Frankly, he is chasing that fight next as opposed to a title shot.
“If you said to me, ‘What would you prefer: title shot or a rematch?’ I’d want the rematch,” Till said. “I just want to avenge that one loss and prove I’m better than him.”
