An all-European middleweight contest between Darren Till and Marvin Vettori looked primed to shake up the 185-pound division on 10 April.
Those plans have been nixed after Till announced he had suffered a broken collarbone in training.
“I’ve been sat here for a good few hours debating how to say this and put into words what I’m feeling and I’m just going to say it straight,” Till began on his social media post. “I’ve broken my collarbone. I’m out my fight next week against Marvin [Vettori].
“Every person who is around me or who has been around me knows I train on a daily basis with f**ked up knees, lower back, shoulders, hands and the list goes on. Yesterday, while drilling, I fell and straight away I knew I’d broken something. To say I’m f**king destroyed by it is an understatement.
“I’ve literally put my heart, soul, mind, physical body, cash, nutrition, sleep, recovery and then some into making sure I went out there next week and took his head off. And I was 100% sure I was going to and with ease. I’m sure he was thinking the same.”
The fight was due to be Till’s sixth fight he headlined on his run with the UFC and his first in Las Vegas.
Despite trading the odd verbal jab with his would-be opponent in recent weeks, Till ultimately wished Vettori luck and appears to respect his fellow European middleweight.
“I am sorry Marvin Vettori. I hope you get a new opponent and we can do this sometime soon in the future, I respect you highly as a competitor.”
According to a range of reports, Kevin Holland has agreed to step in on short notice to take on Vettori, though it’s unclear if that fight will take place on that 10 April date.
Holland is coming off a loss to Derek Brunson a couple of weekends ago, a result that snapped his five-fight winning run put together in 2020.