Darren Till and Robert Whittaker disagree on who holds striking edge

By Tom Taylor - July 21, 2020

Darren Till and Robert Whittaker, who will meet in the main event of UFC on ESPN 14 this Saturday, disagree on who holds the edge in the striking department.

Darren Till, Robert Whittaker

Till, who recently debuted in the middleweight division with a win over Kelvin Gastelum, believes he’s levels above Whittaker in terms of striking.

“I think Rob is potentially, probably more of a seasoned wrestler, a little bit better in that department,” Till said during the virtual media day for the card, breaking down the matchup (h/t MMA Junkie). “Jiu-jitsu wise, I don’t know. Striking wise he’s not even close to the level, but I’m saying that and he could come in and show me something new and, ‘Pom, pom,’ and thats how it is. He’s meant to say that. Would you expect him to say anything else?”

Whittaker, the former UFC middleweight champion, disagrees with Till on this one. He acknowledges that Till has a dynamite left hand, but believes he has his British rival beat in every other facet of the game.

“His biggest threat is his left hand and he knows that as well,” Whittaker said of Till (h/t MMA Junkie). “That’s where I think I match up so much better against him than he does with me because my biggest threat is too many of them. I have so many dangerous shots, I’m so creative. I have so many angles I can exploit. He’s got his left hand. That’s all he’s got. Everything else I got covered.

“He runs that down the pipe and he’s so well at using it. I’m not taking anything away from him, he’s used it on a dozen guys and he’s knocked them out so I’ve got to be aware of that, I’ve got to give it respect, but I got so many angles he has to be aware of.”

Who do you think will come out on top when Darren Till and Robert Whittaker collide in the main event of UFC on ESPN 14 this weekend?