For the first time in two years, Darren Till has booked a fight in his native UK.
Till (18-4-1) will face Jack Hermansson (22-7) at UFC Fight Night on July 23. The three-round middleweight bout will take place at the O2 in London, where Till last fought in March 2019. Sources confirmed the bout to ESPN, following an initial report by European news outlet, MMA Nytt.
Fighting out of Liverpool, Till exploded up the UFC’s welterweight rankings from 2015 to 2018, before coming up short in a UFC title bid against Tyron Woodley. He is 1-2 since moving up to middleweight in 2019, but his two losses have come against highly ranked competition in Robert Whittaker and Derek Brunson.
Till recently moved his camp to Allstar Training Center in Stockholm, Sweden, and has partnered up with rising welterweight contender Khamzat Chimaev. He continues to represent his original team in England, however, Team Kaobon.
Hermansson, of Sweden, has been in the title conversation for several years, but has come up just short in fights that might have punched his ticket to the champ. He lost to Jared Cannonier, who is expected to fight for the title later this year, in 2019. He lost to Marvin Vettori in 2020, and Vettori went on to compete for the belt the following year.
Overall, Hermansson sports a 9-5 record in the UFC.
A heavyweight battle between Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes is set to headline UFC Fight Night in London.