Darren Till isn’t going to pretend that wrestling is his best weapon but that doesn’t mean he can’t stuff a takedown.
While the main event at UFC 228 can play out a million different ways, Woodley has relied on his grappling numerous times in the past and as a former Division I wrestler from Missouri who trains with former Olympian Ben Askren, he’s definitely got that in his arsenal.
During his UFC career, Till has stuffed 15 of 18 takedowns attempted against him, which is a far better average than most fighters. That said, Till has never faced a wrestler as experienced as Woodley so that is one part of the fight that the reigning welterweight champion could absolutely look to expose.
“I’m confident. I’m a good wrestler,” Till said ahead of UFC 228. “I don’t give myself a lot of credit for how good of a wrestler I am, like, defensively and offensively. Before I got in the UFC, I actually fought some good wrestlers. I fought a guy in Argentina. He had been to the Olympics, Greco wrestler.
“You know, I’m going to fight this wrestling OK.”
“I don’t give myself a lot of credit for how good of a wrestler I am” ~ Darren Till
While he definitely believes he can counter Woodley’s wrestling attacks should he choose to use that as part of his strategy, Till knows that finding each other’s weaknesses is really what this fight is all about.
Till is never going to pretend that he’s got every aspect of mixed martial arts down to a science anymore than Woodley would try to say the same.
The key according to Till is which fighter is able to expose those holes and take advantage of it to win on Saturday night.
“I’m extremely confident that we all have holes in our game,” Till said. “People ask me, you know, some fighters they say I just know I’m going to win because my all around game is better. If you wear it like that, coming to a fight. Say a fighter has his strengths and has his weaknesses, Tyron has his strengths over me and I have my strengths over him. And that’s how the fight is going to play out.
“Just strengths to weaknesses. So I’m extremely confident with my wrestling offensively and defensively.”
Who do you believe will win the UFC 228 main event — Tyron Woodley or Darren Till? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
