BRITISH mixed martial arts fighter Darren “The Gorilla” Till pipped American Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in their headlining fight at “UFC Fight Night 130” in Liverpool, England, on Monday (Manila time) albeit by way of a highly controversial unanimous decision.
Mr. Till, who missed weight during the weigh-ins which rendered the fight a catchweight at 174.5 lbs., topped the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) battle, 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46, at the Echo Arena, surprising many who thought Mr. Thompson dominated the fight throughout.
The American got things going with solid kicks and combinations which set the pace for him.
Mr. Till, who feinted a lot in the contest, had his moments but Mr. Thompson would continue to stay on top of things.
In the final round, the protagonists engaged more, connecting with jabs and kicks.
Mr. Till managed to corner Mr. Thompson at one point but the latter managed to escape.
A hard left from Mr. Till dropped Mr. Thompson after which he tried to go for a ground and pound.
The American though was able to get on his feet and resume his attack.
Mr. Thompson unleashed a combination which led to a takedown after only for Mr. Till to wiggle his way out of it.
The fighters sized up each other in the windup before the bell sounded the end of the fight.
While many thought the verdict would go Mr. Thompson’s way, the score cards read otherwise with all judges scoring in favor of Mr. Till.
The British fighter admitted that by missing weight he messed things up but nonetheless felt he did just enough to win over Mr. Thompson.
He went on to say that the American deserves to get a shot at the title but vowed to come back better after the missed weight issue.
For Mr. Thompson, the loss came as a surprise and just took the high road.
“It is what it is. I’ll just take this and learn from it. But hats off to Darren,” he said.
With the win, Mr. Till improved to 17-0-1 while Mr. Thompson slipped to 14-3-1.
OTHER RESULTS
In other fights at UFC Fight Night 130, welterweight Neil Magny TKO’d Craig White in the opening round; featherweight Arnold Allen submitted Mads Burnell in the third round by front choke; featherweight Makwan Amirkhani won over Jason Knight by split decision, 27-30, 29-28 and 29-28; welterweight Claudio Silva defeated Nordine Taleb by submission (rear-naked choke) in the first round; and middleweight Darren Stewart TKO’d Eric Spicely in the second round.
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