Who is Darren Till? The former UFC star was stabbed twice outside Liverpool nightclub, moved to Brazil to focus on his career and almost became an MMA champion… now he’s preparing to take on Tommy Fury on the boxing ring.

Darren Till has never been afraid of a fight and this trend continued after the announcement that he would face Tommy Fury in the boxing ring.

Former Love Island contestant Fury has not stepped foot in the ring since his controversial victory over YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI in October last year.

He had been tipped to make an appearance on this year’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! but reports claimed he withdrew for a more lucrative offer – which turned out to be a boxing match against Till.

The two British stars will face off at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester in January, as Fury looks to follow up his victory against KSI.

Names such as KSI and Jake Paul – another Fury rival – are well known across the UK given their dominance on the internet.

However, unless you’re a mixed martial arts enthusiast, not many people know about Till, who has only competed in one boxing match to date.

He made a name for himself in the UFC after a meteoric rise in the welterweight division before suffering a loss to Tyron Woodley and failing to bounce back.

However, Till’s life could have taken a very different path, far removed from the MMA spotlight.

At 19, he was stabbed twice in the back outside a Liverpool nightclub.

Till got lucky when, after helping his friends during an altercation outside the venue, the blade missed a crucial artery by millimeters.

Speaking about that experience, Till told ESPN in 2018: “I got kicked out of school and my mom was with me to get a job. I didn’t care if I didn’t have a career and make tons of money, I just wanted to do what I really loved.

“I trained a lot but I hung out with the wrong crowd. I was at a nightclub and I got stabbed, I spent time in the hospital, I talked to my trainer (who told me) “if you want to keep fighting, you You have to concentrate.”

“If the knife had hit the nerve – it was 1mm away – I would have bled to death. It didn’t make me the man I am today, it just showed me that life can be taken away from you very quickly. Back then, it could have been my night to die there.

“Coach Colin said ‘go ahead and when the time is right I’ll tell you to come back’. I just believed everything he said, so I went the week later. “Go to Brazil (he said) and let’s see what can happen.” He trusted me to come back as a UFC fighter.

And so that’s exactly what Till did. He had 11 fights in Brazil and one in Argentina before joining the UFC, only two of which resulted in a decision.

Till’s time in Brazil allowed him to become a well-rounded fighter, and it didn’t take long for him to make waves in the UFC’s welterweight division.

His impressive performances, including a knockout victory over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, quickly caught the attention of MMA fans and analysts.

After an exceptional run early in his career, Till earned a shot at the UFC Welterweight Championship against Tyron Woodley in September 2018.

Despite entering the fight with an undefeated record and plenty of hype around him, Till was submitted by Woodley in the second round, marking the first defeat of his career.

It was a major blow for the Liverpool native who went on to lose four of his five fights that followed, including a controversial decision against Robert Whittaker in 2020.

His last fight inside the octagon took place in 2022 when he lost to current middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis. It was after this defeat that he turned to boxing.

Till was due to make his professional boxing debut against former Mexican WBC middleweight boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson undercard earlier this year – but the event was postponed.

After that fight was canceled, Till thought he might be in line for a fight with Jake Paul – but he later revealed that negotiations went silent shortly after.

Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: “The Jake Paul fight, he called me when the Chavez Jr fight happened. Logan Paul did it last year as well. They both called me, I didn’t call them.

“So I was like, okay, let’s put your money where your mouth is, I’m fresh, I’m 31 and I’m your size.

“Let’s do it and tumbleweed, suddenly I didn’t hear anything.”

After these negotiations failed, Till eventually turned his attention to Palestinian mixed martial artist Mohammad Mutie.

Till was victorious by second-round technical knockout despite punching Mutie to the back of the head during the exhibition boxing bout in Dubai.

Away from the boxing cage and ring, Till has had a number of controversies over the years, such as in 2019 when he allegedly trashed a hotel room and stole a taxi while the driver was loading his luggage into the trunk .

Till and four others involved were convicted of criminal damage and unauthorized use of a vehicle, and were fined around £10,000.