Darren Till returns to action this December against Jack Hermansson, but one fighter he is keeping an eye on is UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
The middleweight knows that he’ll be standing across the Octagon from Adesanya one day and Till knows he’ll be victorious when they meet.
“I know when the time comes I’m going to beat Israel Adesanya,” Till said to MMA Junkie. “Invite the hate, but (I) cannot take nothing away from that performance: utter masterclass, utter confidence. I can take inspiration from it even though we’re rivals. To be able to do that shows a level of maturity that I can do that. Costa just needs to come back, whatever he needs to do. But it was an utter masterclass.”
It could be awhile before Till gets that title shot, as Adesanya is expected to defend the title next against Jared Cannonier, if Cannonier gets past Robert Whittaker at UFC 254. Adesanya is coming off of a very personal feud against Paulo Costa, but Till doesn’t see things going that way between them.
“I’m never going to hate him, or any other fighters,” Till said. “I like to think I’m smart enough to know anything they say or do doesn’t affect my feelings. I’m not really sensitive in that way. I can make jokes about myself, I can make jokes about me family. I’ve seen a tweet the other day like, ‘What’s the limit, what’s not the limit?’ For me, I don’t really see people talking about family or other stuff like that. It doesn’t affect me, but I can see how it disrespects other fighters. I’m not really one of them to just hate someone because they said something. We’re going to fight, whether they want to fight on the streets or the cage, it’s more sensible in the cage, but I’m not going to hate on that person. I’m not going to hate on Izzy because he’s doing well or because he’s got this or he’s got that. I hate him for the fight. If we’re going to fight, yeah I’ll hate him. As a person, as a human being, if you’re a guy that’s hating, you’ve got some serious problems with yourself inside yourself. I can’t hate on anyone, I hate myself.”
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