Coach: Darren Till can stay at 170 if he stops ‘eating s**t’

Darren Till recently teased a move up to the middleweight division on social media and a lot of people agreed with the idea. For those looking for an update on the situation, it looks like nothing is quite set in stone, according to Till’s coach.

“The Gorilla” began to receive a strong push in the welterweight division following his first round finish of Donald Cerrone and his decision win over then no. 1 contender Stephen Thompson. Till would get the opportunity to fight Tyron Woodley for the UFC welterweight title at UFC 228 and it proved to be a bit too soon. Woodley would submitted him in the second round of their September scrap.

Till went on to face Jorge Masvidal in the main event of March’s UFC on ESPN+ 5 event in a fight that saw the 26-year-old get brutally knocked out by “Gamebred” in the second round.

Till missed weight for his fight with Thompson, and the “suggestions” from fans for Till to move up to 185 pounds began. Those have continued to present time. Till, himself, added fuel to the fire with his recent social media post.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Till’s head coach Colin Heron addressed many things regarding Till’s career — including a potential move to the middleweight division. Heron says the decision hasn’t been made as of yet. However, if Till wanted to remain at 170 pounds, Heron believes he could do it if he turned up the volume in regards to his discipline and eating habits.

“The obvious answer is, ‘He has a tough weight cut and needs to go up,’ correct?,'” Heron said. “What people don’t see is the lifestyle between fights. It’s hard for me to make correct decisions, until I see a fighter, especially Darren, walking around lean between fights.

“Here’s the problem with Darren Till, and it’s no secret: He eats s**t. As disciplined as he is in the gym, between fights, he will eat the most amount of s**t you’ve ever seen in your life. The fact of the matter is he will probably be a middleweight, but whether it’s now or later, I don’t know. My only concern is he goes up to middle(weight), and that will give him the license to eat more. Then we end up with just as big of a cut, but with bigger consequences in the actual fight. So, I would like to get him lean and then make a decision.”

If Darren Till does make the move to 185 pounds, who would you like to see him fight first?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/24/2019.