Khamzat Chimaev confirms Darren Till is in denial about needing knee surgery

Khamzat Chimaev and Darren Till are close pals and have come to be known as the “Smesh Bros.” Chimaev recently said that he thinks Till would have won at UFC 282 if they had trained together before the bout.

In an interview with Red Corner, Chimaev said:

“For his last fight, he trained here at Tiger. I don’t know who he trained with. Yes, we are close friends with Darren, but he has his own coaches. He is a grown man, he knows what to do. If he’d trained with me in Sweden, it would’ve been a different fight for sure. This is my opinion at least.”

Chimaev also added:

“Darren has a lot of problems nobody knows about. He needs to take care of them. He needs to fix his knee. He needs a knee surgery, but he takes fights instead. I said to him, ‘hey, do the surgery first then fight’. We will see. He knows what to do. I have been helping him in every way I could and I will keep doing so.”

Till has had 5 cancelled bouts in the last 2 years and just two actual bouts. Till has had bouts with Robert Whittaker, Jack Hermansson, Marvin Vettori and Derek Brunson all be cancelled with some of them getting rebooked.

Till’s coach Colin Heron revealed he completely tore his ACL in lead up to Derek Brunson match in 2021 and Till again claimed ACL was to blame when he lost to Dricus Du Plessis earlier last year.

“It happened about nine weeks out, wrestling,” Heron told ESPN. “We got it scanned, looked at properly. The results came back as a completely torn ACL. So, he’s out, isn’t he? That was the advice from me and the doctors. Rest. You can’t do nothing. Surgery is a must. No running, no fast movement, no impact.

“Darren being Darren, he said, ‘Can we give it two weeks and see if I can start running and hit pads?’ And I’m like, ‘No, not really. A torn ACL doesn’t get better by itself. You’re talking surgery and then six months of rehab alone.’ But before you know it he’s talked me into it, as he does. I’ve really only got one option then: support him, whatever his decision is. If he’s not going to take my advice, I’ve got to stick with him. I can’t disown him. We made the best of it that we could.”