Darren Till will make his debut with BKFC later on this week, and an undercard fighter making his promotional debut, after previous bouts in BKB Bare Knuckle, has weighed in on Till’s entry into gloveless combat. This was expressed by George Hillyard, who is booked to throw down with Luke Brassfield on May 30th at BKFC 90.
Hillyard has ties with the ex-UFC title challenger as ‘Hit Hard Hillyard’ was initially booked for Darren Till’s Gorilla Promotions within their mapped out eight-man prize-fighter tournament. With Darren Till making his bare-knuckle debut on this event in the co-main event against Aaron Chalmers, when offering up his thoughts on the penultimate clash of the night in Birmingham, Hillyard said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yeah, listen. Darren Till can; forget everyone thinks he’s a influencer. Yeah, he is. But Darren Till can fight. Like seriously, his MMA [pedigree], he can look after himself. So, I expect fireworks from him on the 30th and to put on a good show. But I expect him to be explosive and it’s going to be a fantastic show. That’s for sure. It’s going to be electric.”
Darren Till is bigger than Floyd Mayweather in the eyes of Chalmers
Darren Till is rated so highly by Aaron Chalmers that the former Misfits Boxing champion looms larger than Floyd Mayweather in the eyes of the ex-Bellator MMA vet. This was stated in the context of Chalmers talking about this fight under bare-knuckle rules, with Till being the biggest challenge he has ever taken on, even beyond fighting an exhibition bout against ‘Money’ Mayweather under Queensberry Rules in 2023.
Chalmers went the distance with Mayweather, and after going eight rounds against the superstar, the former MTV star of Geordie Shore has put together consecutive wins in bare knuckle without a blemish on his gloveless ledger. Addressing the machinations of this match-up with Till while offering some Mayweather comparison pieces, Chalmers stated [via Bloody Elbow],
“I don’t think many people were that bothered about Floyd Mayweather coming over to the UK. That’s me being honest, and I think the Darren Till fight is a much bigger fight than the Mayweather one was. Till is relevant, he fought two or three times last year and has come over to BKFC. Whereas Floyd was not really doing anything, the fight came out of nowhere on four or five weeks’ notice and there wasn’t much promo… For me personally, this fight is a hell of a lot bigger than what the Floyd one was.”
“Whoever wins can move on to bigger and better fights. Listen, I’m under no illusions of what is in front of me. He’s 33, I’ll be 39 this year. When he was in his prime in the UFC I was partying for a living, so it’s a f***ing hell of a fight. But I don’t take fights thinking that I’m going to lose, I’m putting in serious, serious work and I know what’s ahead of us, I know I’m going to get smacked and cut, but I’m f***ing ready.”