Darren Till and Tom Aspinall Used to Spar Going ‘100%’ and How It Destroyed His Knee

Darren Till went a little too hard during his sparring sessions with Tom Aspinall.

Once upon a time, ‘The Gorilla’ looked like he was going to be the next big thing in the welterweight division. Starting his UFC run with an impressive 5-0-1 record, Till secured his first shot at gold inside the Octagon in September 2018.

And that’s where it all came crashing down.

After suffering a second-round submission loss against then-champion Tyron Woodley, Till would drop four of his last five before ultimately exiting the UFC altogether.

Looking back on his MMA career and where things took a turn for the worse, Till revealed to Demetrious Johnson that it can all be traced back to his infamous sparring sessions with former training partner and current undisputed UFC heavyweight king Tom Aspinall.

I was scheduled to fight Derek Brunson… at the time, like eight weeks before the fight, me and Tom Aspinall were training because obviously he used to be my former training partner,” Till said. “And at the time, now when I look back, I was like, I never should have been training with a guy of his size cuz we used to like go at it like crazy, like sparring.

“Like it was 100% every time with me and Tom. And sometimes we were even like, ‘Oh, this is getting hard.’ Like he hits so hard. Well, he’s fucking massive. He’s a big boy… I remember one time we was wrestling and my knee got like stuck in between his legs and my ACL tore and that for me was like the beginning of the end.”

Darren Till finds success in the Sweet Science

While his career inside the Octagon stalled out, Till has found new life in the boxing ring.

Primarily competing under the Misfits Boxing banner, Till has gone 4-0 in eight-ounce gloves, his most recent victory coming via a third-round knockout of former UFC champ Luke Rockhold at MF & DAZN X Series 22.

Till has not yet booked a return bout, but a recent back-and-forth with another former UFC star — Yoel Romero — has a lot of fans clamoring to see the two settle their differences in the squared circle.