Darren Till is reportedly out of his UFC London bout against Jack Hermansson. Surging middleweight prospect Chris Curtis has seemingly been named as the replacement for 'The Gorrilla'. MMA reporter Simon Head wrote on Twitter:
ESPN was the first to report Till's pulling out of the bout due to an undisclosed injury. Later reports revealed that 'The Action Man' had offered to step in for the Liverpudlian with a turnaround of nearly thirty days. Curtis also confirmed the news by posting a picture of Superman killing 'The Joker', which is Hermansson's monicker.
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Chris Curtis is currently riding an eight-fight win streak topped off by three UFC victories. 'The Action Man' recently scored a unanimous decision win over Rodolfo Vieira after knocking out Phil Hawes and Brendan Allen in his previous outings.
Meanwhile, Hermansson is looking to bounce back from a split-decision loss to Sean Strickland in February. 'The Joker' has gone back-and-forth in his last four outings.
The UFC London fight card, scheduled to go down on July 23, will be headlined by a heavyweight clash between Curtis Blaydes and Tom Aspinall. The middleweight fight between Till and Hermansson was initially meant to serve as the night's co-main event. However, it remains to be seen whether the fight will retain that status after Till's absence.
"Who dares, wins"- Chris Curtis' favorite phrase
Chris Curtis did not earn a UFC contract despite a knockout win over Sean Lally at DWCS in 2018. Riding a five-fight win streak in the PFL, 'The Action Man' got his UFC call last year when he was offered to replace Deron Winn in a bout against Phil Hawes. Curtis agreed to take the bout on extremely short notice and also to fight at middleweight despite having competed at welterweight for most of his career.
However, the bout was called off and did not come to fruition until UFC 268 in November, where Curtis picked up a first-round KO win. 'The Action Man' believes he is no longer playing with 'house money', having become a middleweight staple. However, Curtis is not afraid to take risks, even while playing with his own chips. The former PFL star recently told Cageside Press:
“At the end of the day I’m a fighter. I love to fight. I’m still going to take the big fights, going to take the big risk, going to try and take chances. My favorite phrase is ‘Who dares, wins’. You can take a chance, you can fail spectacularly or you can f*cking succeed on the biggest stage, so why not?”
Watch Curtis' interview with Cageside Press below: