Thompson, Till battle at UFC Fight Night 130 in Liverpool, England

TOP Ultimate Fighting Championship ( UFC) welterweight fighters collide at “UFC Fight Night 130” today in Liverpool, England, as number one contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson takes on eighth-ranked Darren “The Gorilla” Till in the headlining fight.

Happening at the Echo Arena, American Thompson ( 14- 2-1) descends on enemy territory looking to make it back- to- back wins and reassert his claim for the title currently held by Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley even as Mr. Till ( 16- 0- 1) of England tries to keep his record intact and defend his home turf in their catchweight encounter.

Mr. Thompson, 35, enters the contest off a unanimous decision win over Jorge Masvidal in his last fight in November 2017, a victory which was a bounce back after losing by majority decision to Mr. Woodley in their title fight previously.

On the other end, Mr. Till, 25, has been on a roll, racking up three straight wins in the last year, the most recent of which was over American Donald Cerrone by technical knockout ( punches) in the opening round of their headlining fight at “UFC Fight Night 118” in October last year.

He now channels his focus on Mr. Thompson, who he hopes to beat to keep his ascent in the division.

Other fights slated for UFC Fight Night 130 are welterweight Neil Magny (# 9) against Craig White, featherweight Arnold Allen versus Mads Burnell, featherweight Jason Knight vs. Makwan Amirkhani, welterweight Claudio Silva against Nordine Taleb, and middleweight Eric Spicely versus Darren Stewart.

UFC Fight Night 130: Thompson vs. Till will be shown live today at 12 a. m. over Hyper Ch. 91 in SD or 261 in HD on Cignal TV. Encore telecast is at 10 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. —