Darren Till's middleweight rival Marvin Vettori doesn't believe he will return from his latest injury setback, branding him "irrelevant" to the division.
The Scouse fighter has struggled to get back to form after suffering his first UFC loss to Tyron Woodley in 2018, going 1-4 amid a move from welterweight and taking years out at a time with injuries. Most recently, he was due to co-main event at UFC London in The O2 arena against Jack Hermansson, but was forced out with an injury.
And Vettori, who faces Robert Whittaker in a fascinating top five match-up on Saturday night in the promotion's Paris debut, believes Till's career is over after his latest setback. The Scouser has admitted that he is struggling with mental health in recent times, with the Italian arguing that he isn't relevant figure at 185lb despite his No.9 ranking.
"I don't think I ever even called out Darren Till," Vettori told reporters at today's pre-fight media day after admitting that he had called for fights with most of the division. "He's completely irrelevant at this point, I think, in the division.
"He's literally zero, delusional also. How are we even talking about him? We only talk about him because he's helping Khamzat [Chimaev, his close friend and top welterweight contender] getting ready, but he hasn't been fighting in a long time. He's done, to be honest I don't think he's ever going to come back with any sort of decent opponent so that fight doesn't make any sense."
Vettori and Whittaker are both miles away from another world title shot after both shipping two losses to middleweight champion Adesanya. The Italian would, however, like to face Chimaev if the Swede decides to move up as he waits for Leon Edwards to defend the welterweight title against Kamaru Usman in a massive rematch.
The Brit's stunning upset knockout of the seemingly unbeaten Usman for the welterweight gold on August 20 at UFC 278 threw a cat amongst the pigeons in the division. Chimaev is due to face Nate Diaz on September 10 at UFC 279, where he is an unbackable favourite to win and cement his place as the top contender at 170lb, although Usman will get an immediate rematch.
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Instead, Chimaev could return back to the division where he started in the promotion at middleweight in an effort to establish himself in both, with Vettori interested in welcoming him up. "With Khamzat, I would love to fight him later on, for sure," he added. We'll see if he stays down, if he comes up, that's a fight that excites me for sure.
"Obviously he's the favourite [against Nate Diaz] but if he had fought Diaz before he fought Durinho [Gilbert Burns], he would have had more time. Chimaev would have been so full of himself he might have gassed in a five-rounder and Nate maybe could have capitalised.
"But now he knows if he's a little bit smart that things aren't like when he fights chumps in the gym who he runs over when he fights someone very solid. Of course he's the favourite, everybody on the last fight of their contract they get another OG, he's getting an up-and-comer, it's a fun fight."
