UFC 248: Darren Till asks Donald Trump to ‘pull some strings’ with his visa issues
- Till calls on US president to ‘get me my visa’ so he can fight Jared Cannonier in March card
- Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya sends video to Till joking about his visa issues
British middleweight contender Darren Till has publicly called on US president Donald Trump to streamline his visa process in time to face Jared Cannonier at UFC 248.
Cannonier (professional MMA record 13-4) is without a fight after scheduled opponent and former champion Robert Whittaker withdrew for personal reasons.
Till (18-2) put himself in contention earlier in the year but a niggling ankle injury and contract negotiations stalled talks. It appears those have since been ironed out after “The Gorilla” Till went straight to the top to arrange a match-up with “The Killa Gorilla” Cannonier.
“Donald Trump get me my visa for UFC 248 so I can whoop this man #PetitionTime,” Till posted on Instagram alongside a photo of the 35-year-old Cannonier.
Till, a native Liverpudlian who spent several years training in Brazil, also took to Trump’s favoured mode of public communication: Twitter.
“Donald Trump, do me the favour of getting my visa for UFC 248 so I can fight please. Surely you can pull some strings! #Please,” Till tweeted alongside a crying emoji.
Trump has yet to respond and UFC president Dana White has also yet to offer insight into the logistics of the rumoured fight.
He looks to springboard the rest of the division to set up a future fight with current champion and – by the looks of it – social media friend Israel Adesanya. The Nigerian-New Zealander, who will be headlining the event against Yoel Romero, sent Till a private video message regarding the visa issues. Till posted it to his own page.
“Hey, am I gonna see you March 7? Are you coming through? Or you got visa issues?” Adesanya asked jokingly before making gorilla chants.
American Cannonier is on a three-fight win streak having beaten Jack Hermansson, Anderson Silva and David Branch since dropping down weight classes.
Cannonier previously said that he was interested in a fight with Till but heard “he’s holding out for contract issues.”
“He wants to get paid more, and we know how that goes. The sport’s still young and we can make as many excuses as he wants, but he should be getting paid,” Cannonier told MMA Junkie.
“He’s fighting top five guys in the middleweight division. He fought for the title. He should be getting paid.”
UFC 248 will be co-headlined by strawweight champ Zhang Weili vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk in Las Vegas.
