Darren Till vs. Stephen Thompson? Don't get too excited just yet

UFC President Dana White made headlines late Tuesday night when he said, according to Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, that the promotion was moving its Feb. 24 event from Orlando to England to have rising welterweight Darren Till headline vs. Stephen Thompson in his home country.

As it turns out, that wasn’t entirely true, which Pugmire clarified today in a series of tweets.

There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s start with this fact: UFC Fight Night 127 already was announced for Feb. 24 at Amway Center in Orlando. And, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, that remains unchanged.

It seems the UFC planned to put the undefeated Till (16-0-1 MMA, 4-0-1 UFC), coming off a huge win over Donald Cerrone, on that card but would now rather have him headline in his hometown of Liverpool – which, of course, makes a ton of sense. For what it’s worth, the UFC declined comment when reached by MMAjunkie.

Where the confusion comes into play is Pugmire seemingly drawing the conclusion – based on White’s quote – that the UFC aimed to relocate UFC Fight Night 127 from Orlando to Liverpool. Potentially standing in the way of that are a few things.

First, there’s the fact that Liverpool’s Echo Arena is already booked for Cage Warriors 90 on Feb. 24, although, given the good working relationship between the two promotions, one would think Cage Warriors would give up the venue for the UFC’s debut in the city.

Then again, if the UFC really wants Till to headline a card in England, the easy choice would be UFC Fight Night 128 just three weeks later on March 17 at The O2 in London. But it sounds like Liverpool specifically is what the UFC wants.

Last, but not least, another potential road block is whether or not the UFC’s reported desired opponent for Till will be healthy enough by Feb. 24 – or if he even wants the fight. Thompson’s father and coach, Ray Thompson, told MMAFighting.com that there’s no interest in Till and that such a matchup hadn’t even been pitched by the UFC. Stephen Thompson (14-2-1 MMA, 9-2-1 UFC) faces a 45-day medical suspension after his win over Jorge Masvidal this past weekend at UFC 217. Who knows if “Wonderboy” will even be ready on time?

So, basically, the UFC wants a specific thing to happen – Till headlining in his hometown of Liverpool. But it’ll take a lot of shifting parts to make that a reality.

We’ll wait and see.

For more on UFC Fight Night 127, visit the UFC Rumors section of the site.

The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie‘s official blog and is edited by Mike Bohn.