Darren Till will look to bounce back from the first loss of his mixed martial arts career when he faces fellow ranked welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal.
The two are scheduled to square off in the headliner of a March 16 UFC Fight Night event in London, England, the UFC officially announced Thursday.
Till (17-1-1) was overwhelmed by champion Tyron Woodley back in September at UFC 228, losing by second-round submission. The 26-year-old Liverpool native is the No. 3-ranked contender in the 170-pound division and earned his title shot thanks to a technical knockout of Donald Cerrone and a unanimous decision over two-time title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.
Masvidal (32-13) has lost two straight to Thompson and Demian Maia and is 9-6 overall since joining the UFC in 2013. All six of his losses have gone to the judges’ scorecards with four of them being split decisions in favour of his opponents. Masvidal, ranked ninth, did not compete in 2018.
OFFICIAL!@DarrenTill2 vs @GamebredFighter is your #UFCLondon main event! pic.twitter.com/5Z6wEgNfYQ
— UFC (@ufc) January 17, 2019
The UFC also added Gunnar Nelson vs. Leon Edwards to the event, which takes place at The O2 Arena.
Nelson (17-3-1) returned in December after a 17-month layoff and submitted Alex Oliveira at UFC 231. Edwards (16-3) has won eight of nine bouts dating back to 2015 with his lone loss being a unanimous decision to Kamaru Usman, who was recently named Woodley’s next title challenger.
Other bouts expected to take place on the card: Jack Marshman vs. John Phillips, Claudio Silva vs. Danny Roberts, Molly McCann vs. Priscila Cachoeira, Gokhan Saki vs. Saparbek Safarov, Volkan Oezdemir vs. Dominick Reyes, Tom Breese vs. Cezar Ferreira.
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