Till didn’t just lose a bout against Whittaker, but the fighter also suffered a knee injury in the second round of his main event fight.
“I’m not that type of guy to make excuses,” Till said after the event (via Mike Bohn & John Morgan of MMA Junkie). “I have to give credit to Rob. In the second round he knee stomped me like I did to Stephen Thompson. They should be illegal. No. It just blew my knee straight out – my knee just (blew) under me, crashed. I couldn’t – that was it for the whole fight. I couldn’t do it the whole fight. I just had to fight. I hid the pain. I don’t think he recognized. I don’t want to sit here and say, ‘My knee gone.’ Whatever. Maybe just stopped me bouncing a bit. It was a real good fight. I feel like I won it. I feel like we both won it. We both won the fight. We both won. It was a clinically neat match. Going to get a bit of surgery now. I want to get back in the game. I’ll fix that, and there’s millions of fights out there for me. I’m one of the top guys in this organization, and I’m going to continue to be.”
A defeated Tiill suffered his first loss as a middleweight in the UFC, but still holds an overall record of 6-3-1 in the promotion.
Whittaker’s next step is unknown at this time, but Till wouldn’t mind a rematch against the former UFC Middleweight Champion.
“If Rob doesn’t get the title shot, I would love to go to New Zealand and fight with him,” Till said. “It’s up to my coach, Colin, and my team and my family and my friends. Maybe I lacked a few things we worked on in the gym. It was disappointing. But I sit here saying convincingly I’m going to be the champion. Either one could’ve been the guy tonight.”
There is no word yet on how long Till could be out of action for, but more should be known when the medical suspension list is released.
