Thompson vs. Till

This is the official discussion thread for Thompson vs. Till. Let's see what you've got.

This fight could end up being pretty lame stylistically.Not sure where people are getting this Till is very aggressive stuff,he can be very inactive at times.I'm intrigued and psyched for the fight but i'm not going to have high expectations.I think Wonderboy will probably outpoint him especially over five rounds.

That's what I'm feeling, Kuma. Till can be great offensively, but only when he finds openings, and even then, he usually lets his opponents off the hook. Hoping that if he does hurt Wonderboy, he'll do the same thing that he did against Cerrone - swarm him.

WB by UD like he did with Rory.

Till will win this fight. Not sure why everyone is picking Wonderboy

It's obvious that Wonderboy is one of the most technically skilled strikers in the UFC, and he has a much more prestigious background in striking martial arts than Till does. Writing Wonderboy off completely in this fight is just dumb. That being said, I do think Till has a decent chance of winning, as you can see by the fact that I'm picking him.

This fight I hope will be disgustingly majestic. It has all the ingredients to do so.

Wonderboy did get clipped by tyron a few times and it hurt him, but he won't have to respect the TD like that here so hopefully his footwork carries him to another touch and go decision.

Tale of the tape: Darren Till is 25, 6 ft, with a 74.5 or 75 inch reach. Stephen Thompson is 35, 6 ft, with a 75 inch reach. Darren is currently undefeated. Who’s the superior striker? Answer: Darren Till… and it’s NOT because of overall technique. Kicks - Stephen. Boxing - Darren. Variety in offense - slight edge for Stephen Thompson. It’s harder to guess what Stephen will do than Darren. Although everybody knows stephen throws kicks, they don’t know when he’ll kick or if it’s a feint, what type of kicks he’ll throw, which area of the body he’ll focus his attack on, & if he’ll follow up with a punch or another kick. Ability to control distance - pretty even, but I believe Darren will dictate the range in this fight using his forward pressure & from catching low kicks. Power / Effective strikes - Darren Till. As flashy as Stephen’s kicks are, they don’t always land & not all his kicks are as effective as they appear to be. Better Chin - Darren Till… younger & shown he can take more clean headshots & follow-up shots with no problem… Stephen doesn’t do well when he’s taking follow-up shots over and over. He normally absorbs one or two shots at a time and then recover. Defense / Footwork / Head-Movement - slight edge for Darren Till. Both have hands low. Both rely a lot on sliding in & out of their opponent’s range. Darren has better head movement… Stephen doesn’t always move his head off the centerline especially when he throws a kick. He can be timed and counter punched to the head clean. Both are excellent strikers but I think the deciding factor in the striking department will be based on 1.) Darren Till’s superior boxing… faster hands & more power in his punches 2.) ability to close the distance & trap stephen along the fence using his forward pressure & by repeatedly catching (or attempts) stephen’s low kicks 3.) Darren is younger & has a better chin… he can absorb more shots. If Darren rocks Stephen with a punch and is able to land follow up shots the fight will most likely be over. Summary of Darren’s striking: wide southpaw stance, very upright stance… invites opponents into level changing on him, likes to use his right hand to probe, gauge distance, & to distract opponents so he can land his power left punch. Chin a bit too high at times but does a good job in using footwork to slide out of range & has decent head movement. He also has his hands low… the reason he has his hands low is to defend against takedowns, bait his opponents into striking with him thinking they have a clear opening to his head, his punches come from the hip which generates more power, and to catch body/leg kicks. His straight left punch is accurate, fast, & imo, is his best weapon. He throws a few head kicks with his left foot, good understanding of distance… slides in & out of his opponent’s range, catches a lot of body & leg kicks. By continuously catching his opponent’s low kicks he’s able to make them hesitant in throwing kicks, land potential takedowns as they are off balance, & to keep them moving backwards as he advances forward trapping them along the fence giving them little option but to only box with him in his range. Although his fight against Donald Cerrone only lasted for 1 round he was able to successfully catch 5 or 6 low kicks & attempted to catch another 5-8 low kicks. By catching low kicks, Darren was able to make Donald hesitant on throwing kicks & kept him continuously backing up as Darren was able to trap him along the fence & forced Donald to only box with him because he had no other option. Donald couldn’t out wrestle him, his low kicks were being caught, he didn't have enough space to throw head kicks, he was trapped along the fence, & his remaining option was to box. In his fight against Bojan Belickovic he successfully caught 8-10 low kicks. He prefers to catch leg kicks than to actually check them. Once he traps his opponents along the fence he likes to land his step-in elbow. He rocked Donald & Bojan with a stepping elbow when they were trapped along the fence. I can understand why everyone is talking about how his striking is similar to that of conor mcgregor’s. Both are southpaw, best weapon are their left punch, big for their division & know how to use their size advantage, wide karate stance, known for out-boxing their opponents, good at judging distance sliding in & out of opponent’s range, both have decent takedown defense, both like to trap opponents along the fence, both like to fight for hand control, both have their hands low for the exact same reasons: defend takedowns, generate power punches from the hip, & bait opponents into striking with them… specifically boxing & head-hunting. However, Conor throws more variety of kicks while Darren catches more low kicks & mixes his strikes with elbows. Areas in his stand-up striking that future opponents can take advantage of: 1.) doesn’t check leg kicks… either he catches the kicks or he eats them clean. Although he caught a lot of Bojan’s kicks, there was a good amount of leg kicks that Bojan was able to land on Darren and by end of rd 2 the thigh on his lead right leg was badly bruised. 2.) does not defend against body shots…specifically straight punches to the solar plexus. He moves his head & has footwork to move his entire body out of harm’s way & has his hands low to protect his ribcage but he is open to straight punches to the body. 3.) Upright stance & doesn’t always have a wide stance during the fight… leaves him open for a level change. There are moments as the fight progresses where Darren Till will have his feet close together & with an upright stance he can be taken down. Against a very good wrestler that will continuously pursue the takedowns he might find his striking nullified. He has decent takedown defense & is pretty big & strong for the welterweight division so he’s been able to defend a lot of takedowns and stand back up immediately. 4.) Overhead hunts with his left punch. He throws a few kicks but for the most part, his real weapon is his left punch. An opponent that can find a way to nullify his left punch will disrupt Darren Till’s gameplan & might be able to beat him Summary of Stephen’s striking: fights primarily at an orthodox stance but he does switch stance a lot during fights. Wide stance. Karate background. Throws a wide variety of kicks… don’t think I need to break down his kicks since we’ve all seen him throw his fancy kicks. He does a good job in sliding in & out of his opponent’s range. Pretty good in using his feints… mostly jumping up & down to test his opponent’s reaction. Opponents don’t know when he’ll pull the trigger. Similar to Lyoto Machida, he has his hands really low & doesn’t always move his head… he’ll slide out of harm’s way using his footwork but his head doesn’t move off the centerline when he throw kicks. Against a good boxer that’s just as tall as him, knows how to cover distance & close the gap, & that has good timing will be able to land clean shots to his head. Stephen throws a few punches but most of his punches are just to set-up his kicks. He doesn’t have a lot of power in his punches. Doesn’t throw a lot of combinations… after he throws a kick he sometimes follow up with a punch or immediately change stance but for the most part is one-and-done. He’s a point fighter. This is an area in his striking that future opponents can exploit. His weaknesses are very similar to lyoto machida’s. Who’s the superior grappler? Answer: Neither. Doubt there will be much grappling in this fight unless someone knocks the other person down to the ground & then enters their guard. Neither are known for vicious ground & pound or for their submission prowess. Good chance if someone gets on top of the other they will probably allow the other person to stand back up. Darren Till has allowed several of his past opponents to stand-back up after he knocked them down & followed up with a few ground & pound. Doubt either can takedown the other… both have good takedown defense. Who has a better chin? Answer: Darren Till. Darren is younger & absorbs shots to the head with no problem. Stephen isn’t known for absorbing a lot of headshots. How I see the fight going down: Darren Till tko’s Stephen Thompson under 3.5 rounds. Darren will be able to trap Stephen Thompson along the fence as he did the same to Donald Cerrone. Obviously, Donald is different from Stephen in that Donald has more of a muay-thai stance while Stephen has more of a karate stance. However, they both have one thing in common: majority of their offense is centered around their kicks. If you take away their kicks, close the distance on them, and force them to box at a limited range then they will lose. I believe Darren will catch a lot of Stephen’s low kicks, as well as absorb a lot of unanswered leg kicks, and eventually trap him along the fence and force him to box with him at his range. He’ll stun Stephen Thompson with a left punch & then follow up with more punches to end the fight by tko.

I think Wonderboy takes Till out or makes him pay the whole fight on route to a decision win in a fight that gets progressively more one sided and lackluster.

Long shot I know but still think till can upset wonderboy.

This may be like the fight the WB had with Rory.