UFC Liverpool Update: Darren Till’s Opponent, Fight Night Time And Fight Card

UFC Liverpool will take place on May 27 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England and it was announced last Friday that Darren Till will headline the fight card.

Here’s the latest on a variety of topics surrounding the historic event in Liverpool…

Darren Till’s Opponent

UFC executive David Shaw said confidently yesterday at the UFC Fight Night London post-fight press conference that “we will have an opponent for Till likely in the next week or so.” That could be the case, but right here, right now, there’s a lot of work to do.

Sources close to that matter have told us that a number of the prime candidates have all distanced themselves from the fight and that Till may be looking at a situation where he will have to fight someone behind him in the rankings.

Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson (h/t BJPenn.com) is said to still be recovering from his hand injuries, whilst Jorge Masvidal has also suggested he will not be ready to fight again until July.

Colby Covington has been unusually silent on the matter and appears to be holding out for a title fight against Tyron Woodley.

Rafael dos Anjos is playing a similar game, but he’s much better positioned to get a shot at the title.

That leaves Robbie Lawler, whose current status is unknown to us right now, and Demian Maia, a man coming off two losses.

Matching Till isn’t going to be a simple task and the only man putting himself out there right now to fight him is Leon “Rocky” Edwards.

Speaking backstage last night following Edwards’ callout, Till said he wasn’t fussed about the callout and stated: “I’m looking up the ladder mate.” Could Edwards get the shot? You look at his record and he deserves it, but the callout last night did very little to convince people that it’s a fight they want to see. Going by the online buzz and the feedback I’m seeing, it’s not moved the needle like say the Till and Mike Perry confrontation at UFC Gdansk did.

Who fights Till in Liverpool is a moving and developing story right now and there a lot more fighters understandably heading for shadows rather than taking a step forward.

UFC Liverpool Fight Card

There are a lot of contracts that are out right now and one by one the news is filtering out.

The only bouts officially announced by the UFC are Elias Theodorou vs. Trevor Smith and Dan Kelly vs Tom Breese.

We recently reported that there are verbal agreements in place for Gina Mazany vs Lina Lansberg and Darren Stewart vs Eric Spicely, but those are yet to be made official by the promotion.

Another good bet for the card is Nad Narimani vs Nasrat Haqparast which fell off the London card late last evening. Word is that is being targeted to be rebooked for the card, but we there’s no formal agreement in place as of yet.

Expect more bouts to be confirmed in the following days.

Darren Till vs. TBD
Tom Breese vs. Dan Kelly
Elias Theodorou vs. Trevor Smith
Gina Mazany vs. Lina Lansberg (not yet official)
Darren Stewart vs. Eric Spicely (not yet official)

What time will it be on?

As of the time of print, the expectation is that the fight card will run with similar timings to last evening’s UFC London in the UK (main card start at 9pm local time), but with the event in the US airing live on Fox Sports 1 instead of UFC Fight Pass.

UK fans wary of the possibility of it starting in the early hours of the morning like UFC 204 can rest easy for the minute at least. That at the moment isn’t the plan.

Noteworthy, however, is that fact that in both the US and the UK there are public holidays with Memorial Day in the States and the Spring Bank Holiday in the UK. That leaves the small possibility open that things could change, but as we understand it, the plan is as stated above.

What about UFC Dublin?

The news last Friday was met with widespread delight from the British fanbase, but one has to have some sympathy for the fans in Ireland who will have to wait a little while longer before the UFC return to the 3 Arena in Dublin.

Irish fans shouldn’t totally despair mind, UFC executive Shaw mentioned in the post-fight press conference last evening that the organization could return there later this year and that it was always in consideration.

“There is definitely potential to hold a Dublin card later this year. It may or may not happen. We haven’t actually worked out our schedule for the backend of the year [but it’s] always on the shortlist. What a number of people have done in that community to build up mixed martial arts it’s most impressive, obviously Conor.

“It’s always on the list. I hope we get back there soon, just nothing is concrete yet.”

Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, alas, hopefully, plenty of the Irish can make the short trip over to Liverpool that weekend in May.

So there’s is everything we know right now about this historic event taking place in Liverpool on May 27.

Keep it locked to MMANytt.com for the latest news as it gets announced.