Three whole minutes – and then some.
That's how long Darren Till and Yoel Romero stared at each other during their BKFC 94 news conference faceoff Tuesday at AO Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom.
The former UFC middleweight title challengers will go fist-to-face, rather than eye-to-eye, Sept. 26 in the same venue when they battle in bareknuckle boxing. On Tuesday, they got their first look at one another as opponents – a really, really good look.
In what may have been the longest faceoff in combat sports history, Till and Romero locked eyes despite the attempts of promotion officials to obstruct their views and conclude the event. Had they not, Till and Romero might still be standing there at the time of this publication.
You can watch in the
video above.
Till (1-0) made his bareknuckle and BKFC debut in May when he defeated former Bellator fighter Aaron Chalmers by second-round TKO. Between his UFC departure in 2023 and his bareknuckle debut, Till went 3-0 in boxing (two exhibitions and one pro bout).
Romero (1-1) has bounced between combat sports since his PFL departure in 2024, varying from bareknuckle (boxing and MMA), wrestling in RAF, and Dirty Boxing. Romero, 49, debuted in BKFC in September 2025 with a quick finish of Theo Doukas. He competed in bareknuckle in Russia in March, but lost to Vagab Vagabov.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: BKFC 94 video: Yoel Romero, Darren Till lock in for awkward 3-minute faceoff
