In what would come as quite the surprising pairing, one-time UFC welterweight title challenger, Darren Till offered to fight the streaking knockout ace, Joaquin Buckley at a promotional event in London this summer – with the pair both verbally agreeing to the quite leftfield bout. 

Darren Till, the current #8 ranked middleweight in the promotion’s official pile, has been sidelined since September of last year where he headlined UFC Vegas 36 against Derek Brunson – suffering an eventual third round guillotine submission loss. 

The Liverpool native was then continually linked with a UFC London matchup opposite Uriah Hall back in March, however, Till – who had suffered a knee injury in the weeks ahead of his clash with Brunson, remained sidelined.

Darren Till has so far landed a 1-2 record at the middleweight limit

For Buckley, the St. Louis prospect laned his second consecutive win back in February at UFC Vegas 48, nabbing a razor-thin split decision victory over Abdul Razak Alhassan. The win came as Buckley’s second on the trot following an impressive third round knockout success against Antonio Arroyo back in September. 

In some footage posted on Twitter this Monday evening, Buckley initially confronts Till’s new training partner, Khamzat Chimaev backstage, pursuing a fight with the welterweight contender, but Darren Till intervenes – and offers him a fight in July clash in London.

During the confrontation, Buckley switches his focus to Till – with the Team Kaobon mainstay offering to fight the former in July at a proposed UFC London event, with the pairing shaking hands and agreeing on the clash. However, Chimaev soon chimes in asking, “who is that guy?” – to which Till replies, “I don’t know” whilst laughing. 

It’s unknown how plausible Till’s offer of a showdown with Buckley is, however, rumblings of a United Kingdom return for the UFC have been rift over the course of last week, with multiple reports detailing how the promotion are targeting a return to the UK on July 23.

In his most recent victory, Liverpudlian striker, Till successfully landed at the middleweight limit in the co-main event of UFC 244 back in November 2019, defeating one-time interim title challenger, Kelvin Gastelum with a split decision triumph.