Two former UFC middleweight title challengers are set to throw down with no gloves this fall.
Darren Till returns to bareknuckle boxing to headline BKFC 94 against Yoel Romero, in another home game for the Liverpudlian. The event takes place September 26 at the AO Arena in Manchester, England, with BKFC president David Feldman announcing the matchup on The Ariel Helwani Show. David Mundell vs. Jack Cullen serves as the co-main event.
Till has taken to the format quickly. He made his bareknuckle and BKFC debut in May, stopping former Bellator fighter and Geordie Shore personality Aaron Chalmers by second-round TKO to move to 1-0. Between his UFC exit in 2023 and that debut, “The Gorilla” also went 3-0 in boxing across two exhibitions and one pro bout.
Romero, meanwhile, has become a combat sports journeyman since leaving the PFL in 2024, bouncing between bareknuckle boxing, bareknuckle MMA, freestyle wrestling in RAF, and Dirty Boxing. The 49-year-old Cuban made his BKFC debut in September 2025 with a quick finish of Theo Doukas, but lost a bareknuckle bout to Vagab Vagabov in Russia in March, leaving him 1-1 in the promotion.
It’s a marquee name for Till to test himself against on home soil, even at this stage of Romero’s storied career. The Olympic silver medalist wrestler remains one of the most physically imposing fighters of his generation, and a win would give Till his biggest scalp yet in the bareknuckle ranks.
