Darren fired up for title

®Êby CHISANGA MALATA

DARREN TILL is confident he can end Tyron Woodley’s reign as UFC welterweight king.

Liverpool’s Till will challenge Woodley for the undisputed 170-pound title in the main event of UFC 228 in Dallas, Texas on September 8.

Till will enter his first UFC title fight as a huge underdog, despite boasting an undefeated record – but the 25-year-old fancies his chances of dethroning ‘The Chosen One’.

“I think I match up bad for him,” he said. “He’s a powerful wrestler, which is good because he’s going to try and get the takedown. He’s got a wicked right hand.

“But I think he’s a bit small and he’s going to be leaping for takedowns and I’m not going to be there.

“My footwork and distance control is just too slick. If he does get the fight to the ground and I bounce back up, what’s going to be his plan then? It will be interesting.”

History

Till catapulted himself into title contention in May with a unanimous decision win over Stephen Thompson, despite missing the weight by three pounds for his hometown clash at the Echo Arena.

But he insists there will not be any more problems. ‘‘I can still make welterweight, that’s for certain,’’ he said. ‘‘Yeah, it might just have put a little dampener on my win, but that doesn’t change the fact that I beat the No.1 guy in the world. If anything, I was worse off in the fight.”

Beating Woodley will see Till follow in Michael Bisping’s footsteps by becoming the second Brit in UFC history to win a belt.

Bisping has called time on his hall-of-fame career and Till believes he is now the face of

UK mixed martial arts.

He said:

“Respect to

Bisping, he did very well

– but I’m here now.”