Darren Till

Darren Till, nicknamed 'The Gorilla', is an English mixed martial artist who challenged for the UFC Welterweight Championship in 2018 after building his career in Brazil, becoming one of the UK's most prominent MMA stars.

Darren Till announced himself to the UFC's welterweight division in 2017 with a first-round TKO of Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone, a performance good enough to earn him a shot at Tyron Woodley's UFC Welterweight Championship the following year — a title fight that represented a remarkable trajectory for a fighter who had spent his teenage years training in Brazil while barely speaking the language. He dropped out of school at 14 to focus on combat sports, and at 17, on his coach's advice, moved to Brazil to avoid further trouble, joining the Astra Fight Team in Balneário Camboriú despite not speaking Portuguese. Till turned professional in Brazil in 2013, and built an undefeated 12-fight record fighting almost entirely on the South American regional circuit before signing with the UFC in 2015. He won his promotional debut with a decision over Wendell de Oliveira Marques, and steadily climbed the welterweight rankings, delivering a signature first-round TKO of veteran Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone in 2017 that earned a Performance of the Night bonus. Till's breakthrough came in 2018 with a contentious decision win over Stephen Thompson in his hometown of Liverpool, earning him a shot at Tyron Woodley's UFC Welterweight Championship at UFC 228, which he lost via submission in the second round. He remained a prominent UK-based UFC star, moving up to middleweight in 2019 and fighting Jorge Masvidal and Kelvin Gastelum in Fight of the Night-calibre bouts, before leaving the UFC and transitioning to professional boxing and bare-knuckle competition from 2025.

• UFC Welterweight Championship challenger (2018)
• UFC Fight of the Night (2019, vs. Jorge Masvidal)
• UFC Performance of the Night (2017, vs. Donald Cerrone)
• Unbeaten 12-fight streak before joining the UFC