Although Darren Till continued his ascension through the UFC Welterweight rankings, in Conor McGregor fashion, shooting up from the bottom of the top ten to number two after defeating the previously number one ranked contender, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, in the main event of the UFC Liverpool event last month, Rafael dos Anjos doesn’t think his future will be in the 170-pound weight class.
Former UFC Lightweight Champion Rafael dos Anjos, who is about to contest for an interim UFC Welterweight Championship when he meets Colby Covington in the co-main event of the UFC 225 pay-per-view in Rosemont, Ill. later this month, spoke about Till’s rise through the division during a media luncheon to promote his fight against Covington.
During the scrum, RDA spoke about Till’s struggle to attempt to make 170 pounds for the Wonderboy fight. As fans saw, Till ended up missing the mark by a few pounds and was forced to weigh under 188 pounds at 1pm local time the day of the fight in an unprecedented move. According to dos Anjos, it won’t be long before Till moves out of the 170-pound class.
“I don’t see him fighting very long in this welterweight division,” said dos Anjos, who sits one spot above Till at number one in the 170-pound weight class. “Every time you make weight, it gets harder and harder and harder. I’ve been there before. I feel like every time I made 155, it was getting harder and harder harder every time. That’s gonna happen to him and he’s gonna go to 185 eventually.”
RDA continued, talking about Till ultimately missing weight for the Wonderboy fight.
“He didn’t make weight, after all that,” dos Anjos said. “And we could not even watch the whole video, right? And he was 3-1/2 pounds over — off the extra pound. If he would fight for a title, it would be 4-1/2 pounds. He’s a great fighter, a young guy. But he’s going to go to 185 eventually.”
Check out the complete UFC 225 media luncheon with Rafael dos Anjos below.
H/T to MMAFighting.com for transcribing the above RDA quotes.
What do you think of RDA’s comments about Darren Till’s future at 170-pounds? Let us know by sounding off in the Comments section below.
