Darren Till has admitted that a return to MMA is unlikely and followed the honest assessment with a pointed attack on Dana White and the current state of the UFC.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show ahead of his upcoming BKFC debut, Till explained that the physical requirements of an MMA comeback, specifically the knee surgery he would need before he could train properly, make the timeline essentially impossible given where he is now in his career.
"My body's probably past that now, Ariel," Till said. "The only way I could come back to MMA, if I think decisively, is at the end of this year, take a full year off to get the surgery on the knee and then take myself off to either Brazil, Russia, somewhere like that again for a year. Don't think of anything but just do what I did when I first went to Brazil and grapple, grapple, grapple. Come back and yeah, but I'd be probably 35 by then, would it be too late? I don't know. The sport's always evolving."
Till had previously been cleared to box without the knee surgery, making BKFC and boxing viable options without the full recovery period that MMA would require. He noted that the surgery he would need is similar to the procedure that former teammate Tom Aspinall underwent to continue his career.
He also used the conversation to address why the UFC no longer interests him the way it once did, delivering a direct critique of the promotion and its leadership. "The UFC has gone to sh—t a bit. I'm not happy with it. There's just nothing there," Till said, arguing that White is no longer as invested in the product as he once was and that the passion behind the promotion has faded.
Till has not competed in MMA since his loss to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 282 in 2022, after which he requested and received his release to pursue other options.
