Till stops Cerrone with barrage of strikes in 1st round to cap UFC Gdansk
The new guard of the UFC welterweight division has arrived.
Undefeated Darren Till shed the "prospect" label in emphatic fashion on Saturday, defeating Donald Cerrone via first-round TKO in the stiffest test of his career to close out UFC Fight Night 118 in Gdansk, Poland.
The beginning of the end! @DarrenTill2 with the beautiful combination that led to the finish! #UFCGdansk pic.twitter.com/BxGUbNI3W3
— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2017
The 24-year-old Till not only rose to the occasion for the statement victory - this, just seven weeks after defeating Bojan Velickovic at UFC Fight Night 115 - he settled Team Kaobon's longstanding score with Cerrone, who submitted Till's cohort and fellow Scouser Paul Kelly many moons ago at UFC 126.
Till wasn't done after securing his first Octagon stoppage in over two years, using the ensuing mic time to call out a cageside Mike Perry before nearly throwing down right then and there at Ergo Arena:
Mike Perry vs. Darren Till after #UFCGdansk? 😳 pic.twitter.com/qtkhkXARvh
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) October 21, 2017
Game as he is, Perry will first have to get back Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC on FOX 26 in December.
Boisterous postfight interview aside, the Brit did what he does best in his first UFC main event, boldly taking the center of the cage and pot-shooting Cerrone with his vaunted Muay Thai from a soutphaw stance. The veteran promptly worked to take the action to the mat, only for Till to make his way back to his feet just as quickly and resume his dissection.
Till all but sealed Cerrone's fate with a crisp 1-2 and a nasty step-in elbow, then swarmed the fan favorite with follow-up punches until referee Marc Goddard stepped in for the save with 40 seconds to go in the first round.
Cerrone came into Saturday's contest as the UFC's sixth-ranked welterweight, and remains one win shy of tying the promotional record of 20 after suffering his third straight defeat.