Darren Till teases UFC 248 stand-in for Israel Adesanya vs Yoel Romero headliner after Jared Cannonier pulls out

Darren Till’s chances of scheduling a fight at UFC 248 are all but over after rumoured middleweight opponent Jared Cannonier announced he will undergo immediate surgery to fix a torn pectoral.

American Cannonier (professional record 13-4) – whose original opponent Robert Whittaker pulled out of the March 7 Las Vegas event for personal reasons – had been teasing a replacement bout against British contender Till (18-2).

“The Gorilla” Till took to social media last week to ask US president Donald Trump to help him with his visa issues, while “The Killa Gorilla” Cannonier apparently trained a bit too hard.

“Darren Till I’m happy you found some courage and finally decided to accept the fight. On Monday,” the 35-year-old Cannonier said in an Instagram post. “But only two days after I tore my left pec completely.

“When it happened on Saturday 7th February, I was in Houston to talk about how you wouldn’t accept the fight. Now had you said yes when they offered, instead of dodging the fight presumably, I would have been in [Phoenix] gettin ready to beat you ass.

“I’m not blaming you but I kinda am. Anyway, I’m gettin surgery on Tuesday. If you’re still around in the [middleweight] division, I’ll hit you up in the fall.

“P.S. tell your little minions to stop tagging me in your weird ass posts,” Cannonier added.

The 27-year-old Till, who is friends with middleweight champion and UFC 248 headliner Israel Adesanya, simply replied: “Jared?”. Nigerian-New Zealander Adesanya also commented, “Damn …” alongside a sad emoji face.

While Till vs Cannonier is off, rumours that the Liverpudlian will stand in for Adesanya’s title defence against Cuban wrestler Yoel Romero continue after he retweeted a fan on Twitter.