A battle of top ten welterweights has been added to the newly dubbed UFC Fight Night London card as #2 Stephen Thompson will battle #8 Darren Till.
The card was originally set to take place in Orlando, Florida until UFC President Dana White said the card has been moved to London, England.
Lance Pugmire of the LA Times was the first to report the fight and location changes:
Dana White says he’s moving his UFC card from Orlando, moving it to England so popular Darren Till can fight @WonderboyMMA
— Lance Pugmire (@latimespugmire) November 8, 2017
The date is Feb. 24 for Till-Wonderboy.
— Lance Pugmire (@latimespugmire) November 8, 2017
Thompson (14-2-1) has won just one of his last three fights, which came over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 217. Thompson has twice before challenged for the UFC Welterweight Title, fighting Tyron Woodley to a draw at UFC 205 and suffering a loss to Woodley at UFC 209. Thompson has also seen his last four fights go the distance.
Till (16-0-1) has already won four bouts under the UFC banner, with his biggest win coming over Donald Cerrone at UFC Fight Night Gdansk. The lone blemish that Till has on his professional MMA record was a majority draw against Nicolas Dalby at UFC Fight Night 76. Till is also a former MMA Sanda Combat Welterweight Champion, defeating Laerte Costa E Silva to win the title in 2015.
Hours after the report, however, Wonderboy denied the claims to BJPenn.com:
“I️ haven’t even thought of him. I’ve been thinking of Robbie Lawler or [Rafael Dos Anjos]. People ate that cake up real quick last night and I was like what the heck I never said I️ would fight him," said Thompson.
UFC Fight Night 127 takes place on Saturday, February 24 from a location TBA in London, England with no main event announced at this time. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on Fox.
