This was the sort of thing we all pictured Jorge Masvidal was capable of achieving, through all those split decisions and runs near the top which didn’t quite get there.
The American Top Team competitor nicknamed “Gamebred” let his hands go on Saturday night and earned the biggest victory of his career in the process.
Masvidal switched over to southpaw and knocked Darren Till cold with a pair of left hands in the main event of UFC London on Saturday night. The time of the finish was 3:05 of the second round.
“I don't throw it often, I think he’d never seen me throw that and didn’t practice for it,” Masvidal said of the winning lefts.
Masvidal came out a bit too exuberant in the early going, as he rushed right out and landed an accidental kick to the groin. After the restart, though, Till came out with bad intentions and dropped Masvidal with a huge straight left to the chin. For a brief moment, it appeared Till might get the finish, but Masvidal cleared the cobwebs and got back into the fight.
“Props to Darren he hit me early and I didn’t know what he it me with,” Masvidal said. “I wanted to kill him after that.”
From there, a cat-and-mouse game developed, as the aggressive Till tried to hunt down Masvidal well also respecting his world-class counterstriking skills.
This back-and-forth pace continued into the second, but Masvidal noticeably got comfortable and started turning up the heat. That’s when he switched stances and drilled Till with two straight nasty left hands which ended the fight.
The 34-year-old Masvidal snapped a two-fight losing streak and improved to 33-13 with his 14th career knockout. Till, who was coming off an unsuccessful challenge of then-champion Tyron Woodley in his last bout, is now 17-2-1.