Jake Paul has his holiday plans penciled in. The Sun reports Paul is in line to return on Christmas Eve for his first fight since breaking his jaw, and Darren Till is among the names in talks to face him.
Nothing is signed yet. The reporting so far gives us a date, December 24, and a shortlist. There’s no confirmed venue and no locked-in opponent. But Till has made his position pretty obvious. Bloody Elbow ran a story in which the Englishman says he’s “waiting for the contract” to fight Paul, which is about as loud a yes as you can give without showing up at Paul’s house with a pen.
Till is a former UFC title challenger who headlined UFC 228 in Dallas against Tyron Woodley back in 2018, according to Cageside Press. Lately he’s been doing his damage with no gloves at all. He committed to BKFC and opened that run with wins over Aaron Chalmers and Yoel Romero. Beating Romero in anything is a real line on a résumé, bare-knuckle included.
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There’s a complication sitting in the BKFC queue, and his name is Derek Brunson. Brunson submitted Till during a covid-era UFC fight about five years ago, and that turned out to be Brunson’s last win in the promotion. The two were booked to run it back this April on a Misfits Boxing card in Qatar, but the event was shut down because of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Brunson confirmed that booking to Bloody Elbow.
BKFC made Brunson’s signing official earlier this month, and he debuts November 20 against Theo Doukas in Myrtle Beach. The 42-year-old hasn’t competed in three years, since his only PFL fight, and he’s already circling Till. “Darren Till looks like he’s on a revenge tour,” Brunson told Bloody Elbow, adding that Till “doesn’t want to get clipped by Blonde Brunson because that might just be the end of it.” Brunson pitched the rematch for a BKFC show in the UK if the numbers work.
So Till has a bare-knuckle grudge match waiting for him in 2027 and a Jake Paul payday possibly waiting for him in eight weeks. Brutal problem to have.
Paul, meanwhile, spent last week doing what Paul does, publicly asking for Jon Jones to be released from the UFC so Jones can fight Francis Ngannou. That clip got plenty of traction on r/MMA. The guy can’t stop matchmaking other people’s fights, so it’s nice to see him working on his own.
My take: I’m in. Till is the right kind of crossover opponent. He’s a real fighter with real name value from the UFC, he’s on a heater in BKFC, and he isn’t hiding from the fight. He’s openly asking for the paperwork. I can’t stand watching promotions sell me manufactured beef that dies at the face-off, and Till looks like a guy who’ll actually show up hostile. If Paul is coming off a broken jaw and still picks a man who just beat Yoel Romero with his bare hands, give him credit for that. Now somebody send Till the contract before Christmas Eve sneaks up on all of us.
