Darren Till: F@$% do you want me to do, say no?

On Sunday, it will have been one year since UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has fought, due to injury, surgery, and recovery. In the interim, the UFC held an interim welterweight fight, with Colby Covington defeating Rafael dos Anjos Decision at UFC 225 on June 9.

The UFC wanted a unification fight at UFC 228 on September 8, 2018. Covington had other plans.

We’re looking at doing it in November, December,” he said. “I need a little time off, I need to do a little recovering. I’m only human, man, I gotta get a little vacation. I just can’t keep running my body through the ground, going through training camps. You have to be strategic, and you know, November, December works for me. I had little health issues after my fight, so I’m getting those taken care of and by the year’s end I will unify my belt and retire Tyron Woodley for good.

Instead, the UFC is going ahead with a Woodley vs. Darren Till. When that fight happens, Covington will apparently be stripped of his interim belt. So Woodley can go a year with no fight, but if the interim champ wants a two-month delay, he loses the belt. All the fans who think Interim belts are meaningless just got all the confirmation they need.

Till missed weight for his last fight vs. Stephen Thompson at UFC Fight Night 130, put on an uninspired fight, and afterward said he didn’t deserve a title shot. Then he got a title shot, which earned some fan criticism. However, in a recent conversation with MMAnytt, Till offered an obvious defense.

When the UFC comes to me and offers me a shot, what the f*** do you want me to do? asked Till, as transcribed by Steven Marrocco for MMAjunkie.

“Dana gave it to me. What do you want me to do? Just say no? Go, ‘Dana, it’s fine, I don’t want that title shot. Give it to someone else if they deserve it.’

If Dana’s offering the title shot, I’m not going to say no, mate. This is what we do. MMA is good, and MMA fans are so amazing. But also, they can be toxic at the same time. Not just MMA fans – the fighters and people in general.

Colby talks so much s***, and then when he was called to fight, he said, ‘I’m going to wait.’ I don’t think it works like that. You can’t have your cake and eat it.

He has won the title. He does deserve that shot, but the UFC, they’re not going to let him call the shots. It’s not for me to say. I’m just going off what the UFC and Dana want me to do. If they want me to fight for the title, I’m not going to say no, I’m upset.

I know a lot of people are going to say, f*** Colby, because of who he is and what he does. But at the end of the day, he earned his right. So as soon as I strip Tyron of his title, Colby and Usman, they’re the two first people who are getting a shot at it.

I’ll fight straight after the fight. We’ll set a date. They’re the two guys before I move up who are getting a shot. I’m assuming it will be Colby, but Usman’s got to get his shot at me. That’s a guy I can’t let go.

Till also responded to his weight fail. 

Everyone keeps going on with the weight, the weight, the weight, said Till. I’ve never seen someone get so much s*** for not making weight one time. It’s like I’ve never made weight. I can’t wait to come back and make the weight to be the new UFC welterweight world champion.

This time Till plans to utilize the expertise at the UFC Performance Institute, and start cutting early.

Usually I always leave it until I have a big cut, because I know I can do the big cut, said Till. But maybe because I’m growing and getting bigger and older, maybe it’s time to get the weight down early. I want to get the weight down early, so there’s no problems, and make weight healthy.

[Woodley] has been a champion. He’s moving onto other things. It’s the passing of the torch, and he knows that.