Darren Till Should Join ONE Championship – Build his Muay Thai Legacy
Darren Till is doing well for himself in influencer boxing and defeating Anthony Taylor in a thrilling fight where Till would dominate and beat down the heavily overmatched influencer boxer. Despite Till’s excellent performance, this is objectively low-level competition. Misfits boxing and the overall E-celebrity boxing sphere don’t pride themselves on their skill but on its over-the-top promotion and antics.
However, the enticing aspect of these fights and boxing overall compared to MMA and Muay Thai is the sheer payouts that these low-level competitions are willing to pay out. The more notable fighters in influencer boxing make money in the hundreds of thousands. This is an easy payday for someone like Darren Till, a high-level striker in the UFC and a former welterweight title contender.
Compared to the infamous 12k to show and 12k to win contracts the UFC gives their fighters, it seems likely that Darren Till is taking an easier path in fighting and making similar money to when he fights top fighters like Dricus Du Pless and Robert Whittaker in the UFC. But instead, now he’s fighting boxers who are nowhere near the top of the sport’s skill and for the same money, despite their somewhat disgraceful nature.
Many fans of boxing and MMA may view this as a fall from grace for Till as he was once a fighter who looked to be a world champion in MMA and is now relegated to taking easy fights for easy paydays in the influencer, something many people probably never thought they would see.
Darren Till was once a fighter willing to fight the top contenders of any division in the UFC, be it Welterweight or Middleweight—facing off against the likes of Robert Whittaker, Derek Brunson, and Stephen Thompson. So, despite Till making a good living for himself in influencer boxing, this undoubtedly hurts his legacy as a serious fighter and caused a severe fall from grace. However, there is still hope for the British striker.
ONE Championship is the path forward for Darren Till’s Legacy.
Many ex-UFC fighters, like Demetrius Johnson and John Lineker, have made their way to the ONE Championship and found incredible success. Some people, such as Reinier De Ridder, have been heavily scorned by the promotion. However, Darren Till is the exact type of fighter ONE needs to continue building its Muay Thai and kickboxing divisions.
With the lower divisions full of great champions and contenders, the lightweight and above divisions in kickboxing and Muay Thai have been barren in comparison. There is a desperate need for a star with a proven track record and striking background. Darren is the man for the job as he is rarely boring and has ONE championship, having both the most notable titles in kickboxing and Muay Thai at the moment.
That and the promotion currently heavily promoting their British stars such as the Haggerty brothers and Nico Carillo, Darren Till will likely face a very warm welcome in a promotion that will offer him every combat that he could ask for, in MMA, Muay Thai, and kickboxing in which he will likely find great success as even ONE’s MMA is friendlier to strikers as they can knee grounded fighters in their MMA ruleset.
Not just that, but we have seen a similar story take place with John Lineker, who was also a top 10 UFC fighter who later became an MMA champion in ONE. He found incredible success in Muay Thai and is now slated to test himself even further against Hiroki Akimoto in a kickboxing match at ONE 172.
So the writing is on the wall for Darren Till if he is looking to be taken seriously once more in the world of combat sports; Chatri Sityodtong is waiting for him in Singapore and potentially world title gold in the most exciting combat sports, Muay Thai and kickboxing.
