Darren Till’s boxing debut made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The former UFC fighter has been preparing to transition to the squared circle since he was released by MMA’s premier promotion in March 2023.

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A clash with former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. was supposed to go down on the undercard of Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson on July 20.

However, Till dropped off the card when Tyson was replaced by his old UFC rival Mike Perry, and he decided to face 2-2-1 MMA fighter Mohammad Mutie instead.

They met at Social Knockout 3 on Saturday night. Their fight was waved off in the second round with Mutie unable to continue after eating a shot, which he claimed was a rabbit punch.

When the two men were brought to the centre of the ring for the official decision, Till was declared the victor via TKO, which Mutie clearly took exception to.

After the result was confirmed, the two men could be seen talking, but things quickly got hostile, and a mass brawl broke out in the ring with kicks and punches being thrown.  

During a backstage interview, the ex-UFC star accused his first boxing opponent of faking an injury to get out of fighting him.

“Do you know what? He just didn’t want to be there,” Till told Fred Talks Fighting.

“He made this big entrance, then ran, threw a few hooks and then he got hit to the back of the head. He’s an MMA fighter, so he’s used to getting hit to the back of the head.

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“It’s excuses. If you’re a fighter, you’re a fighter. If you’re not, you’re not.”

The 31-year-old explained that it was ultimately one word from him that triggered the brawl.

Till added: “He comes over to me saying, ‘I wanna fight!’”

“I’m like, ‘You don’t wanna fight, mate, you’ve just been rolling around for 20 minutes.’ “I said, ‘You’re a coward’. And then he’s trying to run at me.

“I’m a fighter, at the end of the day, I’m going to defend myself.

“It just sort of broke out from there, but I got the win.”

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Till is now hoping to secure a big-name opponent for his next outing.

KSI, Mike Perry, Jorge Masvidal, Nate Diaz, Tommy Fury and Jake Paul are just some of the fighters Till is confident he would beat easily.

"I wouldn’t even train for them," he said.

“I’d roll out of bed, and I’d knock them flat out.

“They’re not on my level.”