A middleweight fight between Robert Whittaker and Darren Till is believed to have been earmarked for a UFC event on July 25th.
Till had taken the lead in talking up a potential fight between the two on social media and Whittaker had warmed to the idea, with the two building a refreshingly light-hearted friendship during the lockdown despite their intentions to fight.
Now Dana White has confirmed the fight is in the works, with verbal agreements in place, though it’s unclear at this stage whether the bout would take place in the UFC’s own APEX facility in Las Vegas, or potentially find a home on Dana White’s mysterious ‘Fight Island’, which is currently targeted to be completed by July.
Whittaker has been taking time out since losing his title to Israel Adesanya last year after admitting that he had become ‘burned out’ by the sport.
Prior to the Adesanya fight, Whittaker had been on a nine-fight winning streak that had saw him defeat the likes of Yoel Romero (twice), Jacare Souza, Derek Brunson and Uriah Hall.
As for Till, he moved up to middleweight after suffering a submission loss to Tyron Woodley in a welterweight title encounter, followed by a brutal KO loss to Jorge Masvidal.
However, Till raised his stock after defeating Kelvin Gastelum by split decision in his 185lb debut and has now put himself in a strong position to get into the title picture if he can get past Whittaker in July.
