Dan Hardy Defends Darren Till Against “Overrated” Criticisms

Last Saturday, Darren Till suffered his second consecutive loss when Jorge Masvidal knocked him out in the second round at UFC London, and after a wave of silence, Darren Till has vowed to come back stronger in the face of some critics who have decided to write him off. The man who was doing color commentary for that fight, Dan Hardy, knows a thing or two about being a young fighter in the UFC and suffering the ups and downs, and he believes that it is far too soon to label Darren Till as overrated:

“So the thing with Darren, he’s 26, he’s had a couple of losses,” Hardy began on MMA Tonight via SiriusXM. “He’s still 17-2. He’s only lost to two of the best in the world. And people are plugged into his career now.

“I mean, how old was Michael Bisping when he got bingoed by Dan Henderson? And he still became the middleweight champion.”

With so many fans invested in Darren Till’s career, particularly in England, Dan Hardy believes the groundwork is set for a story similar to Michael Bisping that won’t always be perfect, but could end up silencing a lot of doubters before it’s all said and done:

“This sport is not about being undefeated and being untouchable. It’s about being on a journey of martial arts. And what we want is for people to be invested in the fighter and their journey.

“And what we’ll see from Darren is someone that will grow, and evolve, and mature in front of us while he’s still partaking in a very, very tough sport, probably the toughest in the world. It’s a great fall ground for these guys to become the martial artists they’re supposed to be. And we are privileged to watch them go up and down. I mean, to call someone overrated in that is simply unfair.

“26 years old, there’s a lot of time for him. I didn’t make my UFC debut until much later than that.”