UFC 248 this weekend sees the UFC middleweight title contested between champion Israel Adesanya and challenger Yoel Romero.
Liverpudlian middleweight Darren Till will be casting a keen eye over what transpires on Saturday night in Las Vegas, having made a successful debut in the divsion against Kelvin Gastelum to shoot him up the rankings into title contention.
However, “The Gorilla” won’t be able to watch the fight in person as his visa issues have prevented his travel to the United States.
Till has even called on US President Donald Trump to help sort out his visa, due to the head of states’ friendship with UFC President Dana White.
But the scouser believes his visa troubles could be behind him soon.
“I’ve got a meeting at the US embassy in two weeks’ time to get my US visa sorted,” Till told Fighters Only’s Jim Edwards. “I want to see how this title fight plays out this weekend.
“I think if Yoel wins or loses I could fight him, but I’ll have to get past these fears first.”
The last sentence is part of a long-running joke where Till, perhaps half-seriously, says he is too scared to fight Romero, who is very much a feared man in the UFC’s middleweight division.
As for the UFC 248 main event itself, Till believes Romero is more than capable of upsetting the bookies’ odds, but Adesanya’s momentum should see him leave Las Vegas with his belt.
“I think with the roll that Adesanya is on he that he will take it,” Till said. “I don’t think he will stop him, I really don’t. I think it will be a hard fought five rounds. At the same time,I think Yoel is very capable of an upset.
“Look I don’t want to p**s off Yoel,” he continued laughing. “I know myself he’d f**king kill me. He’s just a monster. I don’t want to talk about that. I’ll never call Yoel out because of the specimen that he is.”
UFC 248: Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero, Weili Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk preview
Read our in-depth preview of the two UFC 248 title fights leading the charge in Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night by clicking the link above.
Along with the preview, you can discover the best odds brought to you by 5Dimes.
