Till 'ashamed' of missed weight, but won't move up from 170 lbs
Darren Till's showcase main event in his hometown of Liverpool on Sunday didn't go as smoothly as he would have liked. While he was predictably loved by the crowd, the 25-year-old drew criticism for beating Stephen Thompson by a controversial decision after missing weight by 3.5 pounds.
Till (17-0-1), who said his weight cut was caused by a family emergency, agreed to weigh in again on fight day at 188 pounds - some 17 over the welterweight limit - and gave up 30 percent of his purse to keep the fight on. He did not back away from taking the blame on Tuesday when he joined "The MMA Hour."
"I apologize one last time to Stephen Thompson and his team. I'm embarrassed," Till said. "I'm ashamed, but I'll move on from things. I'll always face adversity - good or bad. There is definitely no excuse in the world for not making weight and that is totally my fault and no one else's."
Related: Thompson calls Till's missed weight cut 'very unprofessional'
Till confirmed he offered 100 percent of his purse to make the fight happen, but Thompson (14-3-1) accepted 30 percent on the stipulation Till would have to make weight again Sunday. Till has boasted before that he fights at an abnormal size for a welterweight and missed weight previously by 5 pounds in May 2017, but says he has no current plans to move up to middleweight or higher.
"I had the same amount of weight to cut as when I was fighting in Poland against (Donald Cerrone) and I made 170 there," Till said. "It's just, obviously, I got caught up with a few things on that night of the weight cut and I wasn't able to make the weight. I struggled.
"It was really hard that night, but I can still make welterweight. Just going to have to be more on it."
Till declined to go into details about the family matter that kept him from properly cutting weight.
The Liverpool native said he's seen the criticism suggesting he didn't win convincingly with the home crowd at his back - plus the extra weight - but believes he won on Sunday and feels confident a battle in Thompson's hometown would have gone the same way.
"I heard Stephen Thompson's dad saying that 'we should do it in out backyard' in South Carolina somewhere to see what happens then," Till said. "So I messaged Mick (Maynard) straight away and told him I'll gladly go there and I think it would be around the same fight again."