Middleweights
#4 MW | Kelvin Gastelum (15-4) vs. #10 WW | Darren Till (17-2-1)Advertisement
It has been a crazy last few years for Till. A little over two years ago, the Liverpool, England, native was still an interesting but relatively unknown prospect. He had shown some promise in 2015 bouts against Wendell de Oliveira Marques and Nicolas Dalby, but he missed all of 2016 due to injury before coming back with two middling performances. Till eventually wound up in the right place at the right time. The UFC needed a late-notice main event for a card in Poland, and Till and Donald Cerrone were both ready and willing. Till then stalked down Cerrone and scored a finish for the biggest win of his career. That set up Till for another career highlight of sorts, as his next assignment was a main event slot in the UFC’s Liverpool debut, where “The Gorilla” recorded a win over Stephen Thompson to cement him as a title contender. The bout itself was absolutely awful, as neither man did much of anything, but in the end it all worked out for Till, particularly once he was chosen as the next challenger to then-champion Tyron Woodley. That fight was where Till’s fortunes turned. Woodley handled Till without much difficulty, and in his next fight back on English soil, “The Gorilla” became another victim of Jorge Masvidal’s late-career renaissance. Without a clear path back to a welterweight title shot, Till has decided to ply his trade as a middleweight in a bit of a surprise. He was a massive welterweight, so eschewing the weight cut is understandable, but his size was also a huge part of the intimidation that held his style together. It will be interesting to see how this all works, and the UFC is certainly allowing Till to hit the ground running, as Gastelum is a heck of a first test.
Season 17 of “The Ultimate Fighter” was supposed to belong to Uriah Hall, but once the smoke cleared, Gastelum surfaced as an unexpected winner of the middleweight tournament. To the UFC’s credit, the promotion rightfully ran with it, recognizing Gastelum’s potential as a future Mexican-American star and featuring him appropriately. It has still been a strange run, going back to Gastelum’s bout against Woodley at UFC 183. Gastelum botched his weight cut so badly that he was hospitalized but still allowed to fight, and he put on an understandably flat performance against the future champion. It was the first red flag for the weight issues that would mark Gastelum’s career and eventually force him up to middleweight, but for a time, it also mostly signaled the end of Gastelum’s taking on opponents in their fighting primes. Gastelum eventually rebounded and looked good doing so, overwhelming opponents through an aggressive pressure approach. However, the UFC’s eagerness to have Gastelum make his name off of bigger stars made his resume extremely difficult to evaluate. How much of his success was due to his actual effectiveness, and how much of it was due to blowing through fighters on the verge of retirement? With that said, Gastelum’s last two outings have answered a lot of questions. Against a fading but still relevant Ronaldo Souza, Gastelum gutted through a difficult challenge for a close decision victory, and managed to go toe to toe against Israel Adesanya in April, putting on one of the best fights of the year. Gastelum’s approach is not particularly complex, but he is still tough and relentless enough to make it work no matter what, and a win over Till could easily lead him to another title shot in short order.
At the very least, this is a forgiving bout for Till from a size perspective, given that Gastelum is much smaller and also a converted welterweight. Beyond that, there is not a ton to suggest this will be a promising middleweight debut for the Englishman. Intimidation was a large part of what made Till’s game work for his best wins at welterweight. Even if Till is not a particularly sharp counterpuncher, the threat of his power was enough to slow opponents like Thompson into bouts where Till could pick his most effective shots. Woodley and Masvidal did not have quite as much respect, and while Till had some moments in each fight, each man was eventually able to find his advantage and score a finish. Gastelum is much more on the latter side of the spectrum, since he does not figure to be patient or move backwards. In theory, that could leave the American open to charge right into a big punch, but factoring in the speed advantage that Gastelum should possess, it seems more likely that “The Ultimate Fighter 17” winner can land multiple blows before Till can even come back with one. The pick is Gastelum via second-round knockout.
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