Darren Till was stabbed in the back TWICE and lived in poverty in Brazil - now faces Robert Whittake

As the sun sets on the first set of events on Fight Island, it seems as though the UFC have saved the best until last.

Darren Till will take on Robert Whittaker in the middleweight division in the main event of tonight’s card - live on talkSPORT 2 - in a fight which promises to be absolutely enthralling from the first bell.

The proud Scouser has enjoyed a remarkable rise to the top of the sport, thanks in part to the decision made by UFC matchmakers to continually put him in tough fights.

Yet the 27-year-old is enjoying the experience on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, soaking up the sun and the atmosphere before the serenity dissipates into all-out war on Saturday night.

“Yeah, I’m sort of living a dream,” he told talkSPORT.com. “I’ve just bought my first house and just coming out into this everyday – another main event, another city, another country.

“I always speak with my coach and the guys and we sitting on the beach today and we are truly blessed.

“But we’ve worked hard to be where we are; we haven’t got here by chance or by a lucky streak.

“We put proper hard work and hard graft in so we deserve to be here, me and all my team.”

Yet the dream so nearly became a nightmare eight years ago when the former welterweight was stabbed twice in the back outside of a nightclub in Liverpool.

Till was lucky when, after helping out his friends during an altercation outside of the venue, the blade missed a crucial artery by millimetres.

The 19-year-old knew then and there he had to make a change and his Team Kaobon coach Colin Heron instructed him to go to Brazil to dedicate his life to MMA.

Heron told him he could either be a ‘waster or a world champion’ in life and the Liverpudlian swapped the Mersey for the Amazon.

Despite not speaking a word of Portuguese and with virtually no money, Till lived on eating chocolate spread on white bread to get by whilst training extensively throughout the day.

Working on his Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu, the Scouser honed his skills at the Astra Fight Team in Tijucas by holding pads for the legendary Nogueira brothers.

Antonio ‘Little Nog’ Noguiera would leave money for Till to collect at the end of the day and now fights on his undercard against Maricio ‘Shogun’ Rua for the third time.

The sense of nostalgia and occasion will not deter the southpaw slugger, who has already experienced the highs and lows the sport can bring.

After four impressive wins in the UFC, Till burst onto the stage in Gdansk, Poland when he defeated the legendary Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in less than a round.

The emphatic win catapulted Till into the spotlight and was enough for the UFC to bring an entire card to the city of Liverpool in May 2018.

With the strains of ‘Sweet Caroline’ reverberating around the Echo Arena, Till edged a razor sharp points decision over former world title contender Stephen Thompson.

With ‘Wonderboy’ having faced welterweight champion Tyron Woodley twice, the Scouser took the opportunity in his home city to call out the champion and got his wish in September in Dallas.

But, for the first time as an amateur or a professional, Till was beaten when ‘The Chosen One’ knocked him down and forced him to tap via a D’Arce choke.

Just six months later, the fighting pride of Liverpool was back in familiar territory when he selected Jorge Masvidal for his comeback fight at UFC London in March.

Although a top ranked welterweight contender, Masvidal had taken a long period out of the octagon and the former lightweight challenger was not considered an immediate threat by Till.

He said: “I always stick to the game plan, if only I had done it against Masvidal I would probably be on the cover of EA Sports right now!

“But I can’t fight every fight to perfection and the fight game is not like that. Especially MMA, that’s why it doesn’t matter if you’ve got a big belly or anything, you can never underestimate an opponent or any fighter.

“And I sort of overlooked Masvidal a bit because he was a bit tiny. I beat Stephen Thompson and Stephen Thompson beat him comfortably so maybe, on my part, I did.

“But you live and you learn, I’m only 27 and I’ll probably learn much more because I haven’t even hit anything yet. I haven’t even started to begin, this is all just fun right now!”

As Masvidal’s star began to burn brightly, Till was forced to do some serious soul searching and decided, along with the help of his Team Kaobon coaches, to move up to middleweight and save his body the extensive weight cutting.

Victory over former world title contender Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 244 in Madison Square Garden in November was so much more for Till than simply getting back in the win column.

During an emotional interview with BT Sport, the Liverpudlian even admitted he was thinking of ways to fake an injury to combat the nerves.

"To be totally honest, tonight I was terrified to get in there, just to do three rounds,” he said. "After the first round, I was just like, 'What's wrong with you, Darren?' I knew I was one of the best.

"There's all this BMF talk going on and I just stepped up in weight and fought Kelvin Gastelum, the bulldozer of the middleweight division, so I'm just taking this a step at a time and I'm just happy to even be here."

Now, provided he can get the victory against Robert Whittaker on Saturday night on Fight Island, a shot at the middleweight championship surely beckons.

‘The Reaper’ is no joke; before his defeat to Israel Adesanya last October, the New Zealander was the king of the middleweights and even managed to defeat the fearsome Yoel Romero twice.

And while Till may be enjoying the view from his sun lounger before the fight, you can bet he will be prepared to go to war once again when the cage door slams shut.

UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs Till is live on talkSPORT 2 from 1am on Sunday 26 July

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