After an injury forced Darren Till out of his UFC London co-main event against Jack Hermansson, Chris Curtis stepped in on short notice to replace him. On Tuesday, however, Curtis shared that Till still won’t be missing the card this weekend.
The injury was disappointing for Till who has been plagued by them as of late, but when Curtis stepped in, he took to Twitter and asked the Brit to corner him. Till accepted the gesture publicly on the social platform, and “The Action Man” confirmed that Till will indeed be in his corner, replacing Sean Strickland.
Darren Till Joins Chris Curtis’ Corner at UFC London
“I’ve known Darren for a little bit,” Curtis explained on The MMA Hour. “When he was out in Vegas, we trained a little bit. He’s a really cool dude. I like Darren. We get along great, and the English fans are definitely upset he’s not fighting there, and I know Darren’s upset he’s not fighting at home.”
Your co-main face-to-face 👀@JackTheJokerMMA vs @Actionman513#UFCLondon | Saturday | Prelims 12pm ET | Main Card 3pm ET | LIVE on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/2T6USLNrVu
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“People give him s***, but the dude trains really hard, like maybe too hard,” Curtis continued. ” I’ve done the same thing before, and injuries happen. So I know he was crushed about it, and the fans were crushed, so I’m like, you know what, screw it. I don’t have Sean [Strickland] in my corner. I get along great with Darren. He brings that same kind of energy, so why not? The fans will get to see Darren in front of his hometown, and I get my corner out of it, so everybody wins.”
Darren Till Already Has His Assignment for Saturday
Curtis says he will have his usual two cornermen from Vegas with him, along with Till and another Britishman, Brendan Loughnane. With that, he thinks he will get a big pop from the crowd. All Till has to do, Curtis says, is just bring the energy as Strickland does.
“He’s Sean — just tell me, ‘Don’t be a b***h.’” Curtis said. “Darren has much the same energy as Sean. I’m sure he’ll scream something in Scouser that I won’t understand, but I’ll get that it means, ‘Work harder.’ Like, stop being a b***h.”
Curtis is currently 3-0 in the UFC, with a decision win over Rodolfo Vieira and knockout wins over Brendan Allen and Phil Hawes.
