US’ Cowboy vs Brit Till headlines Gdansk, Poland UFC Fight Night 118

THE Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns this weekend in Poland for “UFC Fight Night 118” that will feature the welterweight battle between Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone of the United States and Darren Till of England.

Happening at the Ergo Arena in Gdansk on Sunday (Manila time), the event will see sixth-ranked welterweight veteran Cerone in a transatlantic collision with one of Liverpool’s top fighters.

Serving as co- main event for UFC Fight Night 118 is the women’s strawweight clash of hometown bet Karolina Kowalkiewicz (# 3) against UFCdebuting Jodie Esquibel.

Considered as one of the best fighters ever in the UFC yet to win a title, Mr. Cerrone (39-9-0 with one no contest) enters the Octagon this weekend coming off back-to-back losses this year — a technical knockout loss to Jorge Masvidal in January and a unanimous decision loss to Robbie Lawler in July.

Prior to that he racked up four straight wins, three of which were named Performance of the Night, including his welterweight debut in 2016 against Alex Oliveira where he submitted the latter in the first round via a triangle choke.

Before jumping to welterweight, 34-year- old Cerrone made a name for himself in lightweight, even challenging erstwhile champion Rafael Dos Anjos for the UFC gold.

Against Mr. Till, the American hopes to hop back on to the winning track and underscore anew his standing as a serious contender in the division and possibly earn a title shot against reigning champion Tyron Woodley.

British Till ( 15- 0-1, 3-1 in the UFC), meanwhile, is out to assert that he is “one of the best fighters in the world” and bent on making the most of the opportunity given to him.

He said he knows that it would not be easy fighting a top- caliber fighter like Mr. Cerrone but nonetheless believes in his abilities as a fighter and looking forward to cracking into the top rankings in the division with a win.

Mr. Till’s last fight was just last month when he won his second straight UFC fight, beating Bojan Velickovic by unanimous decision in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, in the co-main event, Ms. Kowalkiewicz (102) is angling to win anew after dropping her last two fights in the UFC, including her title fight against reigning women’s strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Out to derail her mission is Ms. Esquibel (6-2), who will be making her UFC debut after spending time at Invicta FC.

Also on tap for UFC Fight Night 118 are the light heavyweight clash of Jan Blachowicz against Devin “Black Bear” Clark and the middleweight battle between Oskar Piechota and Jonathan “Jonny Bravo” Wilson.

UFC Fight Night 118: Cowboys vs. Till will be shown live on Sunday beginning at 3 a.m. over Hyper Ch. 91 in SD or 261 in HD on Cignal TV. Encore telecast is at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on the same day.

In the Philippines, Cignal TV, the country’s foremost direct-to-home (DTH) company, is the home of the UFC after the two groups agreed to an extensive deal that will see the UFC beamed on various platforms. —