RISING STAR DARREN Till secured a memorable victory in his hometown this evening, as he defeated two-time title challenger Stephen Thompson at UFC Liverpool, but the result wasn’t without controversy.
The 25-year-old headlined the event at Liverpool’s Echo Arena and after a tight five-round bout, was awarded the victory via unanimous decision, with Till winning the bout in the eyes of all three judges.
But to many observers, American Thompson landed the cleaner shots throughout a tactical and nervy fight, and was arguably hard done by, particularly when 22 of the 24 media members in attendance had scored the fight in his favour.
Fighting in front of a raucous home crowd, Till brashly said afterwards he would take ‘everyone’ next as the biggest win of a nascent career now catapults him into title contention.
“I played games, I know Stephen Thompson thinks I’m an aggressive fighter — and I am. But I’m also calm and collected,” Till, who remains unbeaten in his MMA career, said.
LIVERPOOL!
— UFC (@ufc) May 27, 2018
WHAT A NIGHT! #UFCLiverpool pic.twitter.com/QeP6e4YnxL
UFC Liverpool results:
Main card
- Darren Till def. Stephen Thompson via unanimous decision
- Neil Magny def. Craig White via first-round TKO
- Arnold Allen def. Mads Burnell via submission
- Makwan Amirkhani def. Jason Knight via split decision
- Claudio Silva def. Nordine Taleb via submission
- Darren Stewart def. Eric Spicely via first-round KO
Undercard
- Tom Breese def. Dan Kelly via first-round TKO
- Lina Lansberg def. Gina Mazany via unanimous decision
- Carlo Pedersoli Jr. def. Brad Scott via split decision
- Gillian Robertson def. Molly McCann via submission
- Elias Theodorou def. Trevor Smith via unanimous decision
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Glad to see both managers talking sense. I know Antrim got to the final of the U21 few years back but in general ulster teams got a hiding in all ireland semi finals.
Saturday’s mismatch was no Benifit to anyone. Ok as the Derry manager said his players want to play in Thurles etc. They can’t have enjoyed the Thurles experience on Saturday.
Try an open draw as Eddie said, and a proper B grade competition with ulster trans included with the final on the same day as the A final.
@Diarmuid: there already is a b competition and the final is played before the a final
@Noel Kelly: i realise that Noel but as the Derry manager said the B grade should be restructed to include the ulster champions as well. They are out of there depth at the A level
@Diarmuid: and too good for the B Championship.
Completely agree with Eddie Brendan. This year’s semi finals illustrated the serious issues facing hurling. The Kilkenny Derry game is self explanatory. No way should both teams be on the same pitch. It hinders rather than helps both counties. On the other side we had probably the best u21 team in the country playing their first championship match against a battle hardned side. Very unfair on Galway. Tom Fahey
All about bloody funding,the love for hurling in Derry(parts of)is there,was involved in schools in the 80s,all funded , introduced hurling,football camphor,to kids who wouldn’t have even seen it before,funding ran out(cross border funding) after 2 years,so a lot of kids who weren’t in Gaa clubs finished being interested in our national games,we were full time in primary/secondary schools,do when the scheme finished,most of our work came to nothing,(all coaches were badged)feel something like this initiative needs to happen in Ulster
@billy Dorney: excuse the misspelling,camogie,i meant
@billy Dorney: There is a lot more to it than that, there are many counties and county boards throughout Ireland that refuse to promote hurling as it should as it eat up all resources that Gaelic Football uses, it is so pathetic that there are many counties that do not even put forward a B U21 team, the big ball is king.
@ktsiwot: agree
@ktsiwot: yes,and it’s not going to change anytime soon,so hurling loses
why is the solution always to throw them into Leinster? Wexford Dublin and even westmeath would have hammered that Derry team. why just devalue Leinster and leave precious Munster alone? if ya want to get rid of the provinces, then they all have to go and open up to a group
@Ger O’Meara: devalue leinster by adding Galway u must be joking look how much they have added to the senior hurling.
Galway should go into Leinster and then winners of Leinster and Munster go straight to the final. Big mistake to let go of the Munster Championship if it happens.
All this absolute shite talk about the “Munster championship” what’s so sacred about it. Limerick and Clare have won loads of Munster U21 in last decade and are currently way off the pace required at senior level..There will always be an asterix beside the 2013 AIF. The Munster SHC has been quite poor for years, take out Tipp and the rest are average enough, except for a few bubble performances here and there.. They dont like to hear that in Munster, but thats a fact..It’s not all that!
@Lord Clanricarde: I don’t get this asterix thing about 2013. Why is there an asterix about it. Clare beat everyone put before them and won the all Ireland. End of story. It’s not like Kilkenny, Tipp and Galway didn’t enter the championship that. Same teams started out as every year so I think people need to give Clare the respect they deserve and stop downgrading their all Ireland. If Kilkenny had won in 2013 instead of Clare there’d be no talk of asterix’s. Cork won 2010 football all Ireland beating down. Tipp beat Antrim in an all Ireland in 89 I think. Why no asterix’s against them???
@Lord “up me own hole from Galway”Please stop blowing your own pipa you clown.
@John Carroll: Nice to see neither if ye argued with me on the fact that Munster hurling is not all it’s cracked up to be.. It’s a competition full of sentimentality and old farts scared of change in case it effects the “magical” Munster championship!..Nevermind that Tipp win it whenever they decide to get the lead out!!
Galway should go into Leinster and the winners of Leinster and Munster then play in All Ireland Final. Big mistake if we lost the Munster Championship