Darren Till has made it clear that he does not want to fight the Cuban powerhouse, Yoel Romero.
In a surprising Instagram post last week, the former welterweight contender challenged the third-ranked middleweight to a future fight.
“Let’s go, @yoelromeromma,” Till posted along with a photo of the UFC veteran.
The Liverpudlian just made his middleweight debut at UFC 244 earlier this month. He took on title contender, Kelvin Gastelum, in the co-main event bout of the New York card.
Till was obviously the underdog in this 180-pound clash. He even considered faking an injury to withdraw from the fight as he struggled to bring back his confidence after two straight brutal losses.
Prior to facing Gastelum, Till suffered a submission loss to Tyron Woodley before getting knocked out by Jorge Masvidal.
Proving he belongs to his new weight class, Till shocked the world and defeated Gastelum via split decision.
Now, he is backing out from that challenge for Romero, saying the callout was made for fun.
Blind Drunk
In an interview with MMA UK, ‘The Gorilla’ gave a detailed explanation on how he ended up challenging the Cuban middleweight.
“I was blind drunk. Blind drunk. Yes, so my friend opened up a great bar in Liverpool, we got invited to the open and I was celebrating the win.”
“I was with the guys and I said, I had a few beers and said watch this.”
“So, I went onto google, I’ll get an image of Yoel, cause he is a scary dude, I said I’ll post that. He was like really bro? I said why not let’s start a little controversy. So, I tagged him let’s go and it just blew up.”
“I remember the next morning I woke up and my girl was sat on the couch, because I slept on the couch, and she was like you called Yoel out.”
“So, I went onto google and got the monkey eyes and told my guy to add when you wake up and realize you called out Yoel.”
“Everyone knows when I’m going on a tirade on Twitter it is because I’m having a drink. It is never normal. I’m having fun.”
Title Contention
Till knows he has to beat another top five middleweight to earn a crack at a UFC gold.
Currently, he has accepted Robert Whittaker’s challenge for UFC London in March 2020.
The Australian fighter is fresh off a technical knockout loss to Israel Adesanya in their unification bout last month.
“I’m ready to fight now to be honest. F*ck injury, f*ck time off, f*ck it all. When are your ready, @robwhittakermma? Need to know basis,” Till wrote on a Twitter post.
‘Bobby Knuckles’ eventually responded, saying “Sorry mate was pumping iron. See you in London.”
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Darren Till and Yoel Romero)