Earlier this week, Robert Whittaker admitted that his withdrawal from a planned fight against Jared Cannonier at UFC 248 was not due to a health issue but to feeling “completely burnt out.” Well, being the gentleman that he is, Darren Till is willing to help ease Bobby Knuckles back into the fight game.

Whittaker and Till were scheduled to face each other on August 15 for the UFC’s return to Dublin. However, the coronavirus outbreak has put that plan in jeopardy. As a result, Till has been passing the time by being highly active on social media, picking fights with people, talking trash, and intermittently posting “Rob?” And speaking with ESPN yesterday, the former UFC middleweight champ says he loves it.

“I think it’s great. Honestly, I think me and Darren could be mates because he seems like my sort of cat,” Whittaker said. “I’m stoked. I think he’s a cool guy and I’m stoked to fight him. He’s one of the guys I can’t wait to punch on because I feel like, honestly, I feel like between me and him, punching on him will make us tighter, we’ll become better friends afterwards. That’s just the sort of guy I feel like he is and I think he gets it too. Then afterwards we’ll hit the beers, hopefully not too many, and see what happens.”

Whether the fight will actually come to pass though is still up in the air, and Whittaker admits that with things as chaotic as they are right now due to COVID-19, it’s made training for a fight extremely difficult. However, he offered a plan to make things a little easier: they just don’t train.

“I really want to come to some sort of agreement with Darren, because I feel like he gets it, that we just don’t train at all,” Whittaker said. “We just don’t train. We do like a catchweight at ‘95 and we just rock up. I love that and I’m sure he would too. We’re just dipping chips up until August and just get in there and light it up.”

Whittaker certainly knows his man because shortly after his interview, Till hopped back on social media and couldn’t agree to Whittaker’s terms fast enough, even suggesting they don’t wait to get the party started until after the fight, but do so on fight week as well.

Not long afterwards, Whittaker also hopped on Instagram, responding to Till and asking to seal this agreement in writing, to which Till quickly made an ersatz contract in a comment.

“I Darren Till, agree to a catchweight of 95-100kg for august 15th fight night dublin, and agree that after the fight we go chippn, dippn and drinking in Dublin... signed Darren Till,” Till commented.

Such is the way fights are booked in the time of coronavirus. Of course, there is one last hurdle to keeping this fight alive and that is location. At this point, it seems extremely unlikely that Dublin will play host to a UFC event in August, meaning that for the two international fighters, “Fight Island” will need to be the home for their catchweight scrap. Whittaker, at least, is cool with that.

“Hell yes (I would fight on Fight Island),” Whittaker said. “I wouldn’t come home. I’d take my family there and we’d live there and ride this one out.”

Your move, Darren Till.

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MUST-READ STORIES

Confidence. Dana White doubtful on seeing Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson in 2020.

Vindication. Stephen A. Smith reacts to Donald Cerrone’s UFC 246 self-appraisal: ‘Am I off my rocker now?’.

Tactics. Daniel Cormier: ‘I’ve got to get back to wrestling’ for trilogy fight against Stipe Miocic.

Still mad. Mark Hunt scoffs at ‘Fight Island’: ‘Who gives a f*ck?’.

Good man. Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ auctioning PRIDE trophy to help people affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

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VIDEO STEW

The A-Side Live Chat with Roxanne Modafferi.

Y’all remember how petty B.J. was?

Free fight.

Dan Hooker.

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LISTEN UP

UFC Unfiltered. Interviews with Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Paul Felder.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Beef.

Man, I miss Chael’s ridiculousness.

Odd.

Sage knows that once you find a style, you stick with it forever.

Quarantine affecting people.

Quality post.

This one as well.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ray Borg (13-4) vs. Ricky Simon (15-3); UFC Fight Night, May 13.

Alexander Hernandez (11-2) vs. Drew Dober (22-9); UFC Fight Night, May 13.

Michael Johnson (19-15) vs. Thiago Moises (12-3); UFC Fight Night, May 13.

Edson Barboza (20-8) vs. Dan Ige (13-2); UFC Fight Night, May 16.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let him know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram, add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting, and like us on Facebook.