August is looking to be the month of middleweights in the UFC. Derek Brunson and Darren Till are targeted to lock horns.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto revealed on Wednesday that the UFC is aiming to make the matchup between top 10 middleweights as the main event of the August 14 fight night, according to Dana White. The event had yet to be officially announced as part of the UFC schedule but it would take place just a week ahead of another pivotal 185-pound bout between Paulo Costa and Jared Cannonier.
“Another high profile middleweight fight in the works,” Okamoto said via Instagram post. “Brunson vs. Till, main event, August 14. Not official, still awaiting some medical clearance. But UFC working on finalizing per Dana White.”
Currently ranked No. 5 in the UFC rankings, Derek Brunson is currently riding high on a solid four-fight winning streak. The 37-year old has shown a bit of a resurgence after dropping two losses.
Since his defeats against Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and current champion Israel Adesanya, Brunson has taken out the likes of Elias Theodorou, Ian Heinisch, Edmen Shahbazyan, and most recently, Kevin Holland. The latter two saw Brunson’s hand raised in two of his five career UFC main events respectively.
His likely next opponent in Till hasn’t had the best of luck in recent years. One of Liverpool’s finest has gone 1-3 in his last four outings since he was 17-0-1. On top of that, he’s had to deal with several injuries that have led to two of his three consecutive fight cancelations.
Till can launch himself firmly back into title contention with a win over Brunson. Despite his inactivity as of late, Till has remained a name that the aforementioned Adesanya consistently wants to test himself against.