The world of combat sports has a reputation for ruthlessness and double dealing. But actual back-stabbing? For Darren Till, the 25-year-old UFC fighter, it was a grim reality that served as a catalyst for success.
In 2012, an altercation in Till’s native Liverpool left him with knife wounds on his back that missed a main artery by a millimetre. “It made me more aware of the value of life, and that you shouldn’t take it for granted,” he says. “It made me train harder.”