A Middleweight Clash

A war is about to take place September 4th in Vegas at the UFC apex between middleweight contenders Darren Till and Derek Brunson. This is a must see fight especially if you love the middleweight division, this bout is against two completely opposite fighters who both want the same thing in a fight with the champion Israel Adesanya. Derek Brunson has already had a bout with Israel Adesanya before Israel became the champion back in 2018 and failed to secure a win. But Brunson has been on an impressive win streak since then and has secured 4 wins on ranked opponents and top prospects. A win on Saturday night might give him a title shot. The only thing that would hold him back from a title shot would be his loss to the champ back in 2018 but a win September 4th might be compelling enough. Brunson has become a better fighter since his last loss and that is because of his change of camps. He moved to Sanford MMA for his last three fights and has been more calm and collective in his fights. He might fare better with the champ due to change of camps. On the other hand Darren Till is one of the biggest stars in the UFC but had a rough go in his last couple bouts. Till has lost his last 3 out of 4 and even the win he had was a split decision over Kelvin Gastelum. Since He has moved up to middleweight he’s 1 for 2 and his only loss coming to Robert Whittaker the former middleweight champion. If Darren Till runs through Brunson Saturday night I believe he will pass all the other contenders and get a title shot right away due to his popularity. I think the fans, including me, would love to see the striking exchange between Darren Till and Israel Adesanya. Even though He’s has had a rough go he still has all the skills to become a champion and has fans backing him. If he loses this match his chance to rebound and become a true contender will become dicey. If Till cannot get over the hump and beat Derek Brunson he would not be able to fight for the belt in a long time. Brunson has always been seen as a stepping stone or gatekeeper to get to the title but even though Brunson is older in his career he still has the skills to get a win over Till.

How do these competitors match up? Before Brunson’s last three wins he was very aggressive and would throw big swings and it would leave him open to take big damage, since he’s moved camps he’s been very calculated and has more patience he uses his wrestling base to combine his boxing skills. He tends to go for a take down and let’s go of it to throw boxing combos to get his opponents confused. I believe Brunson is going to create chaos and make it a dog fight and mess up Tills’ rhythm and try to chain wrestle because I know he would have trouble on the feet with Till.

Darren Till has a Muay Thai kickboxing style, and is a very sharp striker. He tends to lure fighters in with his feints then crack them with an elbow or left hand. He will throw a 1000 feints until an opponent bites and leaves themselves vulnerable to a heavy shot. If Darren Till is able to keep the fight standing and make it a technical fight and not get in a dog fight he will secure a win. These fighters are both very explosive but Darren Till hops into his explosive left hand or elbow he’s always setting a rhythm by throwing feints and using a hopping motion, while Brunson throws big bombs and explodes into a take down. These fighters are very different and it will be interesting how they fare against each other. Will Brunson make it a chaotic fight and use chain wrestling or will Till keep it technical and have Brunson missing all night.