After years of teasing a run in bare-knuckle boxing, Darren Till is BKFC-bound. The one-time UFC title challenger is set to take off the gloves at BKFC 90 on May 30 in Birmingham, England, facing fellow MMA veteran Aaron Chalmers.
Till, 33, signed with the promotion earlier this month. The news signaled the end of Till’s run with Misfits Boxing, where he went undefeated in his three appearances in 2025. Till said Tuesday on “The Ariel Helwani Show” that his relationship with Misfits is still intact, but BKFC ultimately delivered a “massive” three-fight deal Till simply couldn’t pass up.
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“The reason bare-knuckle happened is because I couldn’t turn down the offer,” Till told Uncrowned. “It was irrefusable. The offer got laid to me, and you know what, I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m just signing on the dotted line. Let’s fight.’ The art of fighting, it doesn’t matter who you fight.
“It excited me. It got my juices flowing. It’s a tough, tough, tough old sport from what I’ve been watching over the years. It is tough. These guys, they’re not like your traditional martial artists or stuff like that. They’re all just very gritty, hard-punching guys. So you’ve got to come in here with a different type of mentality, which [we] will be doing. Obviously, it might maybe make the [Mike] Perry fight, but he’s gone off running to another organization again, little s***house.”
When deciding on his next move following his September knockout win over Luke Rockhold, Till said he heard from Most Valuable Promotion’s co-founder, Nakisa Bidarian. MVP was in the early stages of shaping its first upcoming MMA event on Netflix on May 16, which would have meant a return to the sport that Till made his name in.
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Till, obviously, declined, instead taking the gloveless route. The Liverpudlian has mostly shut the door on MMA. If he were to ever return, Till wants to do it right, starting with a year of recovery after a much-needed knee surgery, then another year of grappling preparation in heavily focused camps internationally in Russia or Brazil.
In other words, the MMA chapter of his career is simply behind Till. And even with this new bare-knuckle opportunity, he isn’t overly thrilled about the concept of gloveless fisticuffs.
“I don’t really want my face getting smashed up,” Till said. “I’m 33. I’m not the ugliest chap out there. So it’s going to be one of them jobs with bare-knuckle — get in, get the belt, get out — unless they offer me extreme amounts of more money. You can’t be doing 10 fights in this bare-knuckle. You’d be walking around with half your face hanging off.”
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Till takes on Chalmers, of “Jordy Shore” fame, in his debut BKFC appearance, he revealed on Tuesday’s show. The match will be Chalmers’ third under the BKFC banner, having scored back-to-back knockouts last year.
Till has moderate familiarity with his fellow Brit.
Darren Till is finally taking the gloves off, but not for a retirement.
(Ben Roberts Photo via Getty Images)
Similar to Till, Chalmers has taken a familiar path to reach the world of bare-knuckle — first fighting in MMA, then boxing, and now to BKFC.
“He’s trained Muay Thai all his life. I think he was in camp with Leon Edwards for a few years,” Till said of Chalmers. “He obviously has been a big avid trainer all his life. He’s had a few bare-knuckle matches. He can fight, from what I see. He can fight. He’s obviously probably looked up to me when he’s training and stuff like that. He had a go with Floyd Mayweather and that, didn’t he? So he’s obviously looking forward to the challenge. Big, big challenge for him. But all the best.”
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For the most part, Till sees his BKFC run as a side-quest of sorts. His ultimate aspirations still focus heavily on championship gold in the boxing world, where he’s been flawless since making the transition from MMA in 2024.
“I want to win a world title in boxing, if I can,” Till said. “I do believe I can, and my skills are getting better each time. I’m 33. I do feel like all my training and everything now has just been the perfect place for me, with my coach and stuff. So, I would probably give [Misfits] the first offer on the table just out of respect.”
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