Darren Till’s victory over Stephen Thompson last May came by unanimous decision, but it was anything other than clear cut. The two rangy standup specialists combined to land just 71 strikes over five rounds, with no more than three significant strikes separating them in any round outside the last.

Added to those numbers was the fact that Till missed weight. And it wasn’t a close run thing; no mere few ounces that just couldn’t be dropped by fight night. The ‘Gorilla’ came in an entire 3.5 lbs over the welterweight limit (4.5 lbs over championship weight). Disputed scores or no, that’s reason enough for Thompson to feel that Till’s upcoming title shot – against Tyron Woodley at UFC 228 – is entirely unwarranted.

Speaking to Submission Radio, ‘Wonderboy’ gave his thoughts on the Team Kaobon athlete’s booking against the champ, and the lack of consequences that giving him that fight shows on the part of the UFC.

“Do I think he deserves it? No. I really don’t,” Thompson said, when asked if Till deserved to fight Woodley. “This is a professional sport, and making weight is part of the job. You agreed to make the weight. I mean, it’s like the Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero. You know, if you don’t make weight, you don’t fight for the title. I think it should be the same. If you don’t make weight, you don’t move up the rankings. It’s part of the job. You signed a contract to be that way and, my god, you should make it, you should make it.

“The UFC is like, ‘Why aren’t these guys making weight?’ Because there’s no consequences.”

“And he was bragging about it weeks before the fight how he’s this massive 170(-pounder), how the UFC shouldn’t be allowing the fight. Which made him look even worse because he didn’t make weight. And that was 171. I mean, how is he gonna make 170? So yeah, man, I would definitely be questioning that as a fan, but also as the UFC. So, for him to be actually fighting for the title, man… and they’re wondering why people aren’t making weight.

“Because there’s no consequences. Yeah sure, he wasn’t getting paid much for that fight, so of course he won’t make weight. Give 20 or 30 percent or whatever it was to move up the rankings. So now, I mean, he’s probably getting crazy money to fight now, so I bet it was worth it. And the UFC is like, ‘Why aren’t these guys making weight?’ Because there’s no consequences. You know, no real consequences. A lot of people will give them 30 percent and move up the rankings cause their next fight will be more money. It’s just a sacrifice at the moment for a bigger gain later on.”

Thompson is currently recovering from an MCL injury, one that he says prevented him from using his newly honed wrestling skills as much as he would have wanted against Till. It’s an ailment that looks to have him returning to action sometime in December or January. And while a bout against Robbie Lawler has been teased as a fight in the making, Thompson says that there’s been nothing definite decided.

“This has been the fight I wanted for a while now. I’m a big fan of Robbie. I watched him in his Strikeforce days and, you know, [he’s] just a slugger, bro.”

“Well, I mean, it was definitely talked about,” Thompson said of a rumored upcoming fight with former champion Robbie Lawler. “And this has been the fight I wanted for a while now. I’m a big fan of Robbie. I watched him in his Strikeforce days and, you know, just a slugger, bro. He’s always game when he goes out there and just goes. So, very exciting fight. I always wanted to fight him. And one – I wanted to fight him because he was a champion. He was the champion and he’s a good striker, and I love to go out there against good strikers as well just to test mine. So, that’s definitely the fight I want. But it was talked about, but never really gone past that.

“You know, (the UFC was) kind of going through fighters. You know, what about this guy? What about that guy? ‘I think you and Robbie Lawler would be a great fight’. I don’t know how it even got out there. It like blew up on social media and it got me excited there for a second. I’m like seeing all this stuff. I’m like, dude, is this really happening? What’s going on, yo? I was like, heck yeah. But yeah, man, no contracts. Nothing, man. And I know he’s just had knee surgery, so he may or might not be ready in January. It’s kind of up in the air, to be honest with you. I don’t know who I’ll be fighting next.”

UFC 228 goes down next Saturday, September 8th, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX. The card is expected to be headlined by the welterweight title fight between Tyron Woodley and Darren Till. Women’s strawweight champion Nicco Montano is scheduled to make the first defense of her title against Valentina Shevchenko in the co-main event.