Both Israel Adesanya and Darren Till have long flirted with the idea of competing against one another and according to ‘The Last Stylebender’, if Till is successful in his fight next month against Italy’s Marvin Vettori he will be the next man up for a middleweight title shot.

Adesanya has long been an admirer of Till’s striking skillset, previously describing his stand-up skills as “beautiful to watch” and now that he is firmly back in the 185-pound camp after an unsuccessful bid to win the light heavyweight championship from Jan Blachowicz he says that this is the next test he wants.

“Definitely if he wins, gets a title shot,” Adesanya said of Till to ESPN. “‘Scouser’ is number one on the list. But do your job Till, you bum.”

Adesanya also indicated that he would prefer a May or June return to the cage, a date which may be tricky for Till given that he competes on April 10 against Vettori — and nor should the 27-year-old Italian be overlooked. Vettori seriously troubled Adesanya in what was the middleweight champion’s UFC debut in April 2018, with Adesanya winning by close split decision.

Since then, Vettori has wracked off wins against Cezar Ferreira, Andrew Sanchez, Karl Roberson and most recently against the in-form Jack Hermansson.

Till, meanwhile, will come into the fight on the back of a decision defeat to Robert Whittaker which came after a split decision win of his own against Kelvin Gastelum.