"It wasn't the prettiest win" - Darren Till reacts to Marvin Vettori's victory over Kevin Holland at UFC Vegas 23
Darren Till is not very impressed with Marvin Vettori's win at UFC Vegas 23.
Marvin Vettori was originally scheduled to fight English star Darren Till in the main event of the card. Facing number-five-ranked Till would have been a step forward for Marvin Vettori towards a shot at the middleweight title.
However, a broken collarbone forced Darren Till out of the headliner and Kevin Holland stepped in on short notice.
Despite picking up a decision win over Trailblazer, Marvin Vettori's victory did not look like the "prettiest" to his original opponent, Darren Till.
Taking to Twitter following UFC Vegas 23, Darren Till congratulated Marvin Vettori on the win while also claiming that he would have hurt Vettori for "five rounds on the feet."
Darren Till also took a jibe at Vettori in the last line of the tweet. The Italian Dream had previously claimed that the injury cited by Till was a fake one.
Speaking at a UFC media scrum, Vettori said that he was becoming suspicious of the injury and that Darren Till should have produced an X-ray of the injury to prove that it was a legitimate one.
Darren Till obviously did not take too kindly to the comments. In a long Instagram post, The Gorilla addressed Marvin Vettori's accusations, calling him an "ugly looking Lord of the Rings" orc.
Later in an interview with Chisanga Malata, Marvin Vettori revealed that Darren Till had indeed sent him a picture of his X-ray, but he still felt like Till had a responsibility of "showing up."
What is next for Marvin Vettori in the UFC?
Darren Till's opinion aside, Marvin Vettori did put up quite a clinical showing on Saturday afternoon. The Italian adopted a grappling-heavy gameplan, and Holland did not seem to have an answer for most of what Vettori threw at him.
The strategy was similar to the one Derek Brunson adopted in his fight against Kevin Holland. However, in the fight against Brunson, Holland ran his mouth far more than he did against Vettori and landed significantly fewer strikes.
In the bout against Vettori - which Kevin Holland took in a turnaround of 21 days - the latter did keep his word and proved to be the better striker of the two. However, in the end, Vettori's ground game proved too much for Holland to crack, and he had to drop a decision yet again.
Marvin Vettori made it clear that he has his eyes set on UFC gold in his post-fight interview. Currently riding on a five-fight winning streak, Vettori believes he deserves to be booked next in a fight against middleweight champion Israel Adesanya next.