Longo: Till was ‘cheating’ by missing weight at UFC Liverpool

Ray Longo criticizes Darren Till’s performance and his lack of professionalism at UFC Liverpool.

Stephen Thompson vs. Darren Till was a controversial bout for many, as fans and critics scored the fight for ‘Wonderboy’ despite Till walking away with the unanimous decision in his hometown of Liverpool, England.

On top of that, 25-year-old Till also missed weight by three and a half pounds and was forced to forfeit 30 percent of his purse to Thompson. ‘The Gorilla’ even offered Thompson 100 percent of his show money.

Veteran MMA coach Ray Longo, who has worked with Thompson in the past, accused Till of ‘cheating’ by missing weight and said more action needs to be taken against those who try to game the system.

“I think they’re gonna have to readdress this because at the end of the day it’s cheating,” Longo said in a recent interview on the Anik and Florian podcast, per MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew. “There’s a higher percentage of wins with guys that don’t make weight than there are with guys that are on PEDs. They’re like 50-50 or even worse. They’re not even winning and they’re literally cheating. These guys [who miss weight] are cheaters at this point. If they’re not doing performance-enhancing drugs, they’ve figured out another way to make it. This guy was willing to give away his whole purse, what does that tell you? He wanted to give away not 20 percent, he wanted to give away his whole purse. So they really have to come up with something because this looks like a problem.

“It’s just not right and everybody’s already forgotten about it. He didn’t make weight and they already moved past that. It’s not two years down the line, it’s two days down the line. It’s actually two days. It’s already over. Nobody mentions the weight at this point. They’re gonna have to come up with something because it looks like it’s worth a couple thousand dollars here and there.”

Longo, of course, also scored the fight for Thompson and is not entirely convinced that Till is the real deal.

“This was a big fight for that kid and I think it’s a red flag for what’s to come in the future,” he said. “Even though he got the W, he’s really acting like he did something tremendous. He really didn’t do anything until the fifth round. I do think he’s a talented guy, big strong kid, and he’s gonna bring it so I’m curious to see what happens with him in the future but that fight, I thought, was an easy fight to score and I would’ve scored that for Wonderboy without a doubt.”

Till, who extended his undefeated streak to 17-0 (one draw) at UFC Fight Night 130, shot up six places to No. 2 in the official welterweight rankings, overtaking Thompson, who dropped to No. 3.