Darren Till and Luke Rockhold are ready to go. Perhaps too much so.
This Saturday, Till and Rockhold face off in an eight-round boxing match for the Misfits bridgerweight title (205 pounds), in the main event of Misfits 22. The bout is Rockhold’s Misfits and boxing debut, while it will be Till’s third time competing for the promotion, and fourth exhibition boxing bout overall. The two former UFC fighters have nearly come to blows several times this week already, which is an energy they’ll hopefully
carry with them into the Misfits ring this weekend.
But before anything goes down on the main event, Misfits 22 also has a pair of marquee undercard fights. In the co-main event, former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson makes his influencer boxing debut as he takes on Salt Papi in a six-round interim middleweight boxing title fight, and influencer instigator extraordinaire Dillon Danis fights Warren Spencer for the inaugural Misfits MMA title.
In a weekend absent the UFC, Misfits is certainly bringing a lot of notable action to the table instead.
What: Misfits 22
Where: AO Arena in Manchester, England
When: Saturday, Aug. 30. The three-fight early preliminary card begins at 1 p.m. ET and can be viewed on YouTube or MMA Fighting, followed by an eight-fight main card airing on DAZN pay-per-view at 2 p.m. ET.
Darren Till vs. Luke Rockhold
Meshew: One of my favorite things about combat sports is how it gives us matchups that speak not just to the fighters themselves, but to larger themes about the fundamental aspects of human nature. Fighting is Shakespeare in a ring, never more so than on Saturday night when we finally answer the eternal question: who wins, the stoppable force or the moveable object?
Back when he was an MMA fighter, Till was one of the most remarkable combatants in a generation, a man with the ability to fail upwards, seemingly endlessly. Till lost five of his final six fights in the UFC — with his lone win coming as a split decision over fellow Fail Upwards All-Star Kelvin Gastelum — none of his losses ever seemed to stunt his upward momentum. He kept getting big opportunities, time in and time out, only to flounder in the actual fights. The end of Rockhold’s UFC career was actually quite similar to Till’s, but at least he was a former champion. Champs get some leeway.
As for Rockhold, this is a man who is massively talented and did reach the top of the mountain, but fell aggressively and has been unable to find his footing since. He tried to put it together in MMA, he tried BKFC, and now he’s trying boxing, despite boxing being by far the worst aspect of his MMA game. Normally, I would predict this ends terribly for him, but with Till, I mean, maybe it doesn’t?
Honestly, it’s hard to feel confident in this one, but I guess I’m going with Till because Rockhold doesn’t have a good chin and his boxing has always been bad.
Martin: Based on experience, Darren Till seemingly has an obvious advantage because he’s actually been focused on nothing but boxing for the past couple of years while picking up a couple of wins over Anthony Taylor and Darren Stewart. Till was always a quality striker during his UFC career, but based solely on accomplishments and experience, Rockhold is by far the toughest opponent he’s faced thus far.
Say what you will about how his UFC career ended, but Rockhold was a champion and top middleweight for most of his career there. While things didn’t work out too well for Rockhold when he tried bare-knuckle fighting, he did score a brutal knockout over Joe Schilling in a Karate Combat fight. What does that mean for boxing? Well, not much, but Rockhold is still a sizable step up in competition for Till.
That said, Till at least has more time spent in the boxing ring, so it’s tough not to lean his way when it comes to a prediction. Till may not be elite, and a knockout is probably unlikely, but he’s good enough to outwork Rockhold across six or eight rounds (whatever they ultimately decided after verbally sparring over the length of the fight on Thursday)
Tony Ferguson vs. Salt Papi
Meshew: Speaking of guys who haven’t won a fight since the first Donald Trump presidency, here’s “El Cucuy” riding his eight-fight losing streak into an influencer boxing match against a young guy who can actually kind of thump. Uh oh.
I always thought that when the end came for Ferguson, it would come hard and fast, but even I’ve been surprised by how precipitous the drop has been. And it’s going to continue here. Ferguson was not an elite boxer in MMA, and his chin is definitely compromised. Even back when he was fat, I thought Salt Papi was probably the most naturally talented of the influencer boxers, and now he’s taking it kind of seriously. All the Ferguson fans who tune in hoping for one last good memory are going to be left quite sad on Saturday.
Martin: This might end up as the saddest fight on the entire card because if Tony Ferguson somehow falls to a social influencer named Salt Papi in his boxing debut, the entire MMA community might weep in unison. Ferguson left the UFC on an eight-fight losing streak, including a pair of pretty brutal knockout losses along the way, but even at his absolute worst, he should walk through Salt Papi if this was an MMA fight.
Unfortunately for Ferguson, this is a boxing match, so that evens the odds a little bit, and Salt Papi has shown legitimate knockout power. But Salt Papi lost the only time he faced an actual pro fighter (Anthony Taylor), and I refuse to believe that Ferguson doesn’t have enough left in the tank to get the job done.
It could be an ugly fight, but I’m still riding with Ferguson.
Dillon Danis vs. Warren Spencer
Meshew: Well, Misfits finally found someone Dillon Danis can beat, I guess.
For all his bluster, shenanigans, and nonsense, Danis was a legitimately talented grappler once upon a time. Not “talented for an influencer” or whatever, but an actual world-class talent. Warren Spencer may be world-class in some things, I don’t know, but I do know whatever those things might be, fighting ain’t one of them. Spencer is a mid-level influencer boxer, and this is an MMA fight. Danis is going to take him down and submit him with relative ease. In fact, my only prediction for this is that it will be so easy for Danis that he will play with his food and joke around a bunch, in an effort to get over with the fans more as a heel.
Martin: Dillon Danis is far more famous for trolling than fighting over the past few years — let’s never speak about that boxing match with Logan Paul again — but he’s actually a really good grappler and he’s taking on a striker without a single MMA fight on his record. That’s really bad for him.
Expect Danis to play around on the feet a little bit because he probably doesn’t face much of a threat there either, but eventually he’ll secure a takedown, and then the fight likely ends within a matter of seconds. As soon as Spencer hits the ground, Danis is going to twist him around like a pretzel and either force him to tap or choke him unconscious.
The only question is how fast this happens, but Danis likely gets it done in rapid-fire fashion.
