Darren Till claims he fought "killers" in Thailand training camp to prepare for UFC 282 clash

UFC middleweight Darren Till believes he's had the best preparation of his career as he heads into UFC 282 looking to prove his doubters wrong.

'The Gorilla' was once tipped as a future UFC champ but has suffered a torrid time as of late in the octagon. The Liverpudlian is 1-4 in his last five appearances as well as being forced to pull out of a number of fights after suffering a multitude of injuries.

Over the last year, the 29-year-old has been training in Stockholm, Sweden, at the Allstars gym with Khamzat Chimaev. Their budding bromance has added extra pressure to Till's shoulders due to 'Borz's' dominance in the welterweight division.

In a recent interview with Michael Bisping and BT Sport, Darren Till was asked about his fight preparations. After a number of months in Sweden, 'The Gorilla' discussed spending the last few weeks in Thailand and believes that will make the difference against Dricus du Plessis this weekend. Till said:

"There's secret Russians in Thailand who are 30-0 killers and are looking to maul you every day. I'm walking in the gym and I'm looking at the killers thinking, 'I need you, come here'."

"Why do you think me and Khamzat are such good friends? I got to the gym and I was out of shape, fat... I got there and the whole gym saw me as a piece of meat. The kids even kicked the sh*t out of me and I thought I need some more of this."

Catch the full interview here:

Darren Till weighs in on Khamzat Chimaev vs. Colby Covington

Darren Till is already excited at the prospect of being in the corner for Khamzat Chimaev's potential bout with Colby Covington next year.

Dana White recently confirmed that the UFC were working on Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman's trilogy, with the co-main set to be Chimaev vs. Covington. According to the UFC president, the winner of 'Borz' vs. 'Chaos' will go on to fight for the title.

During the UFC 282 press conference, 'The Gorilla' was understandably asked about his close friend Khamzat Chimaev and his potential bout with Covington. According to The Liverpudlian, 'Borz' would have no problem 'overpowering' the American:

"I think that's a very good fight, I do, 'cause people don't see a lot of Colby in the media but I know he's a guy who in secret trains really f***ing hard. If them two fight, I think Khamzat would be... I think he'd overpower him. I believe [Chimaev's] striking is better and I think when it comes to the wrestling, he'd be the powerful one.

Catch Darren Till's full pre-fight presser here: