The UFC’s time on Fight Island ended with a tactical battle between top middleweight contenders Robert Whittaker and Darren Till. Fighting for the first time since losing the middleweight championship to Israel Adesanya, Whittaker survived an early scare to score a unanimous decision victory and return to the win column.
At the beginning of the first round, Till caught Whittaker, hitting him with a short elbow and throwing the former champion onto the canvas. Till tried to get to the end, but Whittaker made a good recovery and used the threat of losing rights over the head to prevent Till from exercising the initial advantage.
In the second round, Whittaker scored his own takedown, bombarded Till with a wild right turn, and planted him on the canvas. Whittaker took the opportunity to land a few pounding and pounding blows, puffing up Till’s face and drawing blood from his nose.
With both men having scored takedowns, the fight settled into a pattern dominated by feints and Whittaker kicks. Both men would choose their places to break free with big shots, Whittaker’s indirect rights and Till’s left elbows and hooks. Whittaker was the busiest fighter in the interim rounds, amassing an advantage on scorecards that would ultimately be the deciding factor in the outcome.
“I’m telling you what, that fight was so stressful,” Whittaker said after the fight. “Honestly, I hope fans and everyone can appreciate it because that was, for me, one of my most technical fights … I had to really adapt on the fly.”
Until the fight ended with a strong fifth round, scoring the couple’s most significant punches. Whittaker was left with an unpleasant injury to the side of the head in the round, caused by another opposing elbow. But it was too little, too late for the promising ones, with all three judges scoring the fight for Whittaker by a score of 48-47.
After the fight over whether he wanted to go back to work and rematch Adesanya for the middleweight title, Whittaker said, “I honestly want to go home with my babies and my wife.” He also said that his main focus would be helping his teammates prepare for their upcoming fights, a change of focus for Whittaker, who admitted to struggling with exhaustion after losing his championship last October.
CBS Sports was with you throughout the night providing updates, insights and analysis across the entire main board. You can see the full results, highlights, and summaries of the action below.
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UFC Fight Night card and results
- Robert Whittaker def. Darren Till by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
- Mauricio Rua def. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Fabricio Werdum def. Alexander Gustafsson via first-round submission (arm)
- Carla Esparza def. Marina Rodríguez by divided decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
- Paul Craig def. Gadzhimurad Antigulov via first round submission (triangle choke)
- Alex Oliveira def. Peter Sobotta by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Khamzat Chimaev def. Rhys McKee via first-round TKO (punches)
- Francisco Trinaldo def. Jai Herbert via third-round TKO (punches)
- Jesse Ronson def. Nicolas Dalby via first-round submission (bare rear choke)
- Tom Aspinall def. Jake Collier via first round TKO (punches)
- Movsar Evloev def. Mike Grundy by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Tanner Boser def. Raphael Pessoa via second-round TKO (punches)
- Pannie Kianzad def. Bethe Correia by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Ramazan Emeev def. Niklas Stolze by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Nathaniel Wood def. John Castaneda by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
