Darren Till: Khabib needs to fight Tony next, Tony deserves his shot

I just loved every minute of the fight, but I want to see Khabib v Tony now......

Khabib v McGregor fight

I absolutely loved it. I loved the whole show, I loved the beef, and I loved the beef afterwards. I just loved every bit of it. I was up until eight o’clock in the morning just laughing my head off. It definitely provided the spectacle for me.

I was rooting for Conor being totally honest. I wanted Conor to win just so he could cement himself as one of the greatest, which I think he still has done but obviously I wasn’t looking past Khabib as he’s just an absolute animal. I think, right now after beating Conor, if he beats Tony Ferguson, then I think he’s the best lightweight in UFC history. That’s just my opinion.

I predicted that in the first or the second Conor might knock him out. If not, then I knew Khabib would get him in the fourth or fifth round. Conor just looked a little bit slow to me, like the time off hadn’t done him any good. His precision and his range wasn’t as sharp as it normally is. Or, it could have been just that Khabib was so good on the night – it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it was.

It was a great fight, great entertainment and I really enjoyed it. Would I want to see it again? Yes I would. But, I’d like to see Khabib take on Tony now and see if he can beat Tony because in my opinion that’s the hardest match up for Khabib right now. Tony is just so evasive and elusive, he’s amazing so that’s the fight I want to see.

Notoriously bad cardio

I’ve got two opinions on McGregor gassing. I feel like the way the fight went for Conor was similar to the way my fight went against Woodley. I just felt off on that night. Obviously the better man won it but I felt too relaxed and like I hadn’t warmed up properly. I feel like Conor was the same. It looked like he hadn’t warmed up properly and was just a bit sluggish. Maybe that’s due to the time off that he had, maybe he wasn’t 100%.

John Kavanagh said that they want to go back to the old school gym so maybe he knows himself that the preparation for Conor wasn’t right this time around. I do know Conor does train really hard, as does Khabib. I just think the time off didn’t do him any favours.

The other thing is maybe it’s something to do with his cardio based workouts. I don’t know but I know what I do myself to get my cardio in good shape. For MMA cardio, you need many rounds of hard sparring, many rounds of groundwork and wrestling and lot of running. I run twice a day, when I’m in fight camp and when I’m not. I’m not in his camp so I don’t know but it’s certainly a tough one to figure out as he does always look in great condition.

Does Conor deserve a rematch? Whether he deserves a rematch or not doesn’t really matter. What he does for the UFC in terms of the number he generates warrants him a rematch already.

In the real world this is what I’d like to see: Khabib fight Tony and Conor fight someone in the meantime and then maybe meet again and see if it would be a different story.

I believe that Conor could still knock Khabib out but then again Khabib could just maul him again. I’m just a fight fan, I just want to see good fights. Conor is not a pushover. Khabib was just an animal on the night. I’m not taking anything away from him but if there’s a rematch I’m not going to be one to moan about it but I do think that Tony deserves his shot because he was the champ.

It’s funny because Conor was the champ, Tony was the champ, now Khabib’s the champ – it’s just a weird little circle. The fight I’d like to see next for the title is Khabib versus Tony. Tony deserves that shot.

Tony just doesn’t care and I love that about him. If there’s anyone in the lightweight division that can beat Khabib, then Tony can do it. You’ve got a dominant wrestler in Khabib who has got good striking – awkward striking but it’s effective – and then you have Tony, who throws any type of shot from any type of position. He’s great on the ground, he’s got great wrestling so as a fight fan that’s the fight I want to see.

McGregor’s Hunger

Some people are saying: ‘Has Conor lost that hunger? Has the money affected his appetite to train and to focus? Is he just doing it now for money?’. I disagree with all of that. Conor has made so much money already, he’s a multi, multi-millionaire so he’s not coming back just for that. He came back to solidify himself as the best and in doing that he came back and fought the best lightweight in the world and UFC history. He could’ve fought somebody who wasn’t as dominant as Khabib and he chose not to.

You’re gettin’ it mate….eh, I mean all the best odds over at Paddypower.com

What do you think?