Darren Till’s Nutritionist Confident He Can Continue at 170 Pounds

Much of the talk in the lead-up to UFC 228 this past Saturday revolved around Darren Till and his weight cut. The Englishman had failed to make the welterweight weight limit twice in four fights, most recently in May against Stephen Thompson, and many fans doubted he would make weight for UFC 228, especially without the one-pound allowance to which he had been accustomed. The Ultimate Fighting Championship even had fellow welterweight Kamaru Usman on standby as a possible replacement.

To the surprise of many, Till weighed in at 169 pounds. His nutritionist, Eoghan Gallagher, claims the 25-year-old could continue his stay at welterweight. Gallagher was a recent guest on the Eurobash podcast where he talked about Till’s weight cut and expressed his belief that 170 pounds is sustainable for his charge.

“[The weight cut] did go extremely well in the end,” Gallagher said. “I was very confident [he would make weight] and I think he can make 170 with ease for years to come, it’s just all about what his preference is moving forward.”

Gallagher said when the weight cut is planned out and a system is in the place, Till should have no issues continuing to make 170 pounds.

“We are absolutely confident that when you put in a system that looks to achieve goals over a certain period of time and don’t leave everything to the last minute, like a lot of people do, [Till can make the weight],” he said. “I only got to work with Darren [for a short period of time]. I met him and 20 days later he was 169 pounds, which was significantly less than what I got him at.”

Gallagher suggested that he’d like to spend some time with Till back in Liverpool to ease the process as well as bring his walking-around weight down to make it easier in the future.

“Ideally, what I’d like to do moving forward is spend six to eight weeks with him in Liverpool in a much longer camp than this one, obviously this was a short-notice fight. I’d look to get the weight down earlier, get him a bit slimmer — a little bit less aggressive than I had to do it this time. I’d get the weight down slowly, making the cut in the end extremely easy.”

“This cut was super easy. The actual water cut itself did not take a significant amount of time. When he jumped on the scales and we saw 170, his teammate Mike Grundy and I were there, we were all together and it was a really emotional moment for us. We just hugged it out and we were like, ‘Wow’. Absolutely, Darren can make 170 with ease with the systems that we have in place,” he said.