Derek Brunson and Darren Till head into Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 191 main event in Las Vegas with their sights set on an impressive victory – and a shot a the undisputed UFC middleweight title.
With reigning 185-pound world champion Israel Adesanya rapidly running out of fresh contenders to face him for his middleweight title, all eyes will be on the UFC Apex this weekend as Brunson and Till face off with a possible shot at ‘The Last Stylebender’ up for grabs for the winner.
For Brunson, it would represent an opportunity for revenge. The American was knocked out by Adesanya at UFC 230 before the Kiwi captured middleweight gold. But Brunson has won four in a row since that loss, with wins against Elias Theodorou, Ian Heinish, Edmen Shahbazyan and Kevin Holland setting him up for a tussle with Till.
Liverpool’s Till, meanwhile, has long been linked with a possible title clash with Adesanya, but a combination of patchy form and inactivity due to injury has left him out of the mix.
Bouts with Jack Hermansson and Marvin Vettori fell by the wayside as Till battled injury problems through 2020. But now ‘The Gorilla’ is ready to return against Brunson, knowing that a statement performance could see him catapulted into a title fight with Adesanya.
Till heads a strong group of Brits looking to make their mark in an event that will be shown earlier than usual to allow them to fight on U.K. primetime.
The co-main event sees heavyweight prospect Tom Aspinall take on the man he’s repeatedly called out since arriving in the UFC, Serghei Spivac, while England-based Lithuanian Modestas Bukauskas returns to action against Khalil Rountree in a light heavyweight bout.
Former Cage Warriors featherweight champion and larger-than-life character Paddy Pimblett will also make his long-awaited UFC debut when he takes on Brazil’s Luigi Vendramini, and his fellow Liverpudlian, women’s flyweight Molly McCann, is set to take on South Korea’s Ji Yeon Kim.
Also, unbeaten Welsh star and former Cage Warriors bantamweight champion Jack Shore will look to improve his perfect professional record to 15-0 with victory over Liudvik Sholinian.
UFC Fight Night 191: Fight Card
Main Card
- Derek Brunson vs. Darren Till
- Tom Aspinall vs. Serghei Spivac
- David Zawada vs. Alex Morono
- Khalil Rountree vs. Modestas Bukauskas
- Luigi Vendramini vs. Paddy Pimblett
Preliminary Card
- Ji Yeon Kim vs. Molly McCann
- Jack Shore vs. Liudvik Sholinian
- Charles Jourdain vs. Julian Erosa
- Dalcha Lungiambula vs. Marc-Andre Barriault
- Jonathan Martinez vs. Marcelo Rojo