Stephen Thompson welcomes rematch with Darren Till

In 2018, welterweight contenders Stephen Thompson and Darren Till battled for five tense and competitive rounds. At the end of their 25 minute meeting, England’s Till was named the winner via decision — though many fans disagreed with that verdict.

At the time of their meeting, Thompson and Till stood out as two of the top contenders in the UFC welterweight division. Today, however, the pair are both riding brutal, one-punch knockout losses. Thompson came up short more recently, after absorbing a bomb from former lightweight champ Anthony Pettis. Till tasted defeated just before that, when he was thumped by Jorge Masvidal.

Given his history with Darren Till, and the fact that they’re both looking to bounce back from tough knockout losses, Stephen Thompson says he’d be willing he’d be willing to fight the Brit again.

“Both of those guys are some of the best fighters in the world, which a lot of people just don’t understand,” Thompson told MMA Fighting’s Eurobash podcast, discussing Till’s loss to Masvidal (transcript via MMA Fighting). “You get the average fan watching these fights and they don’t understand that these are the best fighters in the world right now. I actually predicted that Darren Till was winning that fight. I expected him to do what he was doing in the first round for all five rounds. Again, this is the sport we compete in and anything can happen.

“He got caught just like I got caught,” Stephen Thompson added. “I was beating Anthony Pettis. I know nine times out of 10 I would have defeated him. It’s just that one time you barely get clipped and down you go. I had Darren Till winning that fight, but in the end Masvidal ended up putting it on him. Then again, Masvidal is a veteran of the game, so you’ve got to be ready at all times, just like Anthony Pettis was.”

“I’d love to step back out there with my man Darren Till. I think we put on a show last time, so of course, I would love to [fight him again]. To be honest, any one of those guys that I’ve stepped in the Octagon with — Darren Till, Anthony Pettis, Tyron Woodley — I would love to step back in the Octagon with those guys.

“If that happens, heck yeah,” Thompson concluded, referencing a Till rematch. “We’re both coming off knockout losses. You never know, things could line up that way.”

Does a rematch between Stephen Thompson and Darren Till interest you?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/27/2019.