UFC President Dana White believes the UFC machine may have pushed Liverpool’s Darren Till too soon.
“The Gorilla” shot to stardom after finishing Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone inside a round back in 2017.
The welterweight then took a unanimous decision win over former two-time title contender Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson to cement his position as a future challenger for Tyron Woodley’s UFC championship at 170 lbs.
However, Till fell short against Woodley – succumbing to a second-round D’Arce choke after struggling to get out of first gear.
After that, Till suffered a knockout loss to Jorge Masvidal in March and he is now plotting his return to the cage and ascend up the rankings once again.
White was candid in admitting he had perhaps mishandled the young prospect.
“I think Till went back to the drawing board,” White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.
“He’s a young guy and after the win over Cowboy, we might have pushed him a little too soon.”
White indicated he may look to slowly reintroduce Till to the welterweight division once he’s ready to make a comeback.
At present, there has been no noise made about Till or any potential opponents since his March loss to Masvidal.
“It happens sometimes when a guy gets that much steam behind him and pump the brakes a little here. Let him get back and work on things that he needs to work on and he’s going to be around.
“You come in and beat a guy like Cowboy and boom, you immediately get bounced right up into the middle of the rankings and some people it’s the perfect time, some people it’s are a little soon.
“That weight division is nasty. It’s like murderer’s row in that top eight. So we’ll give him some time, look for a next opponent and see what’s next for him.”
