Liverpool fighter Darren Till believes Conor McGregor should “listen to his body” after suffering catastrophic leg injuries in back-to-back UFC fights – but would still jump at the chance to fight the Irishman in his bare-knuckle promotion.
McGregor made his hotly-anticipated return to the Octagon in July after five years out of the cage, but his clash with Max Holloway ended in disaster in just 69 seconds when he endured what turned out to be an ACL tear, after throwing an audacious jumping roundhouse in the first moments of the fight.
The 38-year-old injured the same right leg he broke against Dustin Poirier in 2021, sparking many to speculate whether this latest setback would be the end of his career.
McGregor, however, has insisted he will make a comeback for the final fight in his UFC contract, setting his sights on next summer despite questions surrounding his physical state.
Till, a former UFC title challenger who has a self-confessed love for extreme violence, recognises how hard it can be for fighters to step away from the sport but feels McGregor is in a position, physically and financially, where he should think about hanging up the gloves.
“I like it but the thing with Conor [is] he’s made a lot of money,” Till told The Independent. “He probably doesn’t still need it but he probably wants it because it’s hard for him to leave the sport behind and he’s a fighter’s fighter.
“I do get it but sometimes it’s probably best to just let it go.
“If Conor’s getting injured like that in the first few seconds of a fight, he should probably be listening to his body.”
He added: “But again, the one thing with Conor, he’s got more than enough money to get seen to and to get all the best procedures, so who knows, he might come back a better man, he might not. We’ll see.”
Till, 33, is preparing for his second fight in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), a promotion which McGregor has part-ownership of.
After bouncing back from a first-round knockdown to knock out Aaron Chalmers, once of Geordie Shore fame, the Scouser is now staring down the barrel of tantalising match-up against Cuban specimen Yoel Romero, an Olympic silver-medallist who continues to fight at 49.
The pair will throw down on 26 September but with Till quickly becoming the face of the company, he has not shut down the possibility of a fight with the boss, McGregor, if the Irishman decides to step into his own ring.
“If it’s ever on the cards for me and Conor, I’d happily take it,” Till said, with bare-knuckle boxing potentially a smart option for McGregor to spare his legs any further punishment.
“He’s obviously got a share in the company, he can obviously pick and choose who he wants to fight. If ever that day comes and he wants to fight me, then we’ll glove up – or we won’t glove up, because it’ll just be fists.”
