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Darren Till Survives Knockdown to Win BKFC Debut in Style

'The Gorilla' got past an early scare to make his bare-knuckle debut in style at BKFC 90
Jaren Kawada|
Darren Till (left) landing a punch on Aaron Chalmers (right) in the BKFC 90 co-main event.
Darren Till (left) landing a punch on Aaron Chalmers (right) in the BKFC 90 co-main event. | BKFC

Darren Till received an early scare in his first bare-knuckle fight, but officially begins his BKFC tenure at 1-0.

Till sent shockwaves through the combat sports world when he signed with the BKFC in March and announced his debut fight against former reality TV star Aaron Chalmers shortly after. Till closed as a massive 10-1 favorite across most sportsbooks but received a big scare from the underdog early.

Till came out with a methodical approach, using his reach advantage to establish his range against the smaller Chalmers. He landed a few solid jabs early before getting caught with a left hook late in round one that dropped him to a knee. Till immediately returned to his feet but was clearly shaken up both mentally and physically.

However, once the second round started, Till wasted no time establishing himself in the center of the ring. He forced Chalmers onto his back foot before landing a perfectly timed counter left hand square on the chin to send 'The Joker' crumbling onto his knees.

The face-down Chalmers shook his head multiple times while the referee counted to 10, giving Till a second-round knockout in his BKFC debut.

"I was f****** made for this s***, I was made for it," Till said in his post-fight interview.

Till also admitted in his post-fight ring interview that he intended to take his time in the opening round to adjust to the bare-knuckle fight style. All that immediately went out the door once Chalmers clipped him for an official "welcome to the BKFC" moment.

Till officially landed nine punches in the fight to Chalmers' five, according to the BKFC stats. He landed just one punch in the second round, the fight-ending left cross.

Darren Till calls back to viral UFC moment after BKFC debut win

Darren Till
Darren Till (right) speaking to BKFC ring-side announcer Cyrus Fees (left) after his debut win over Aaron Chalmers at BKFC 90. | BKFC

With his debut now in the books, Till now has all the doors opened for him in his bare-knuckle career. 'The Gorilla' refused to name anyone specifically in his post-fight callout, instead using his microphone time to call back to one of his most iconic UFC moments.

"F****** everyone and anyone!" Till said. "I don't care. I'm not scared of anyone!"

The post-fight moment was a callback to one of the most iconic moments during his 12-fight UFC run. Till uttered almost the exact same phrase word-for-word after beating Stephen Thompson in his first main event in Liverpool.

Till has frequently mentioned 'King of Violence' Mike Perry and pound-for-pound No. 1-ranked Lorenzo Hunt since signing with the BKFC.

The 33-year-old has made it clear that he does not intend to be in the bare-knuckle industry for long and wants to make as big an impact as possible throughout his stint.

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Jaren Kawada
JAREN KAWADA

Jaren Kawada is a combat sports writer who specializes in betting, with over five years of experience in boxing and MMA. When he is not covering the sport, Kawada is an avid MMA, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and boxing practitioner. Kawada has previous bylines with ClutchPoints, Sportskeeda MMA, BetSided and FanSided MMA. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Kawada has a B.A. in Sports Media from Butler University and now resides in Denver, Colorado.

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