You’re probably not going to hear Darren Till questioning or diminishing the abilities of Israel Adesanya like Paulo Costa did. But, that doesn’t mean Till doesn’t believe he’ll hand Adesanya his first, MMA defeat.

Till says he’ll “beat” Adesanya when “the time comes”

Adesanya is coming off a one-sided, second-round stoppage win over Costa, which went down at UFC 253 last month. Leading up to the bout, Costa repeatedly argued that his power and size would be too much for the champ. 

In addition, Costa accused Adesanya of being a runner rather than a fighter.

Well, since the memorable fight, Till spoke with MMA Junkie. While talking about “The Last Stylebender’s” latest performance, Till had this to say.

“I know when the time comes I’m going to beat Israel Adesanya,” Till said. “Invite the hate, but (I) cannot take nothing away from that performance: utter masterclass, utter confidence.

I can take inspiration from it even though we’re rivals. To be able to do that shows a level of maturity that I can do that.

Costa just needs to come back, whatever he needs to do. But it was an utter masterclass.”

Till certainly isn’t the only person who has heaped praise on Adesanya following UFC 253. After all, leading up to the fight, the consensus seemed to be that Adesanya would retain the middleweight crown, but that Costa would provide him with his biggest test to date.

That didn’t happen (Costa has claimed “something happened” before the fight went down).

As far as Till’s contention that he’ll defeat Adesanya, if and when they ever fight, that’s no surprise. The Liverpool star has repeatedly said he believes his striking is unmatched. So he likely does believe he can end Adesanya’s reign.

First things first

Now, before Till can take another step towards a title shot, however, he has to get by Jack Hermansson. Till is scheduled to face the dangerous grappler on December 5th.

While talking about the upcoming match-up, the 27-year-old said this.

“I think he’s going to come in and attack the neck and attack the legs and look for a quick sub,” Till said. “So I’ve got to be physically and mentally prepared for that.

I think it’s going to be a very strategic fight. I don’t think I’m going to play it sort of like my last few fights where I’m waiting to miss and hitting them with one shot.

If I can defend all his attacks I’m just going to be looking to really put combinations together and put him out early. That’s what I’m going to be looking for me.”

Till also relayed that he’s solely focused on defeating Hermansson, which would be wise. “The Joker” needed less than two minutes to tap Kelvin Gastelum out with a heel hook in his last outing.

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