Chris Curtis. Darren Till will be playing Sean Strickland at UFC London

Chris Curtis will have the next best thing to homefield advantage at UFC London: A Scouser in his corner.

Darren Till joins Curtis in his corner to fight Jack Hermansson at UFC London’s co-headliner. This was a place that Till had previously held before he sustained a knee injury.

The idea came together pretty quickly after Curtis’ short-notice replacement was confirmed. He offered Till the job on Twitter, and soon after, they were in business.

“I’ve known Darren for a little bit,” Curtis explained on The MMA Hour. “When he was out in Vegas, we trained a little bit. He’s a really cool dude. I like Darren. We get along great, and the English fans are definitely upset he’s not fighting there, and I know Darren’s upset he’s not fighting at home.

“People give him s***, but the dude trains really hard, like maybe too hard. It’s happened before and it happens again. So I know he was crushed about it, and the fans were crushed, so I’m like, you know what, screw it. I don’t have Sean [Strickland] in my corner. I like Darren. He has the same energy as me, so it makes sense. The fans will get to see Darren in front of his home town, and I get my corner out of it, so everybody wins.”

According to Curtis, his regular middleweight teammate Sean Strickland was his first pick for the job. He said that Strickland had told him he “lost his passport” and that there were no other restrictions on travel “that we know of .”

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” I haven’t looked at any government watchlists recently, but you never really know,” Curtis joked. It could be a passport issue .”

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The good news for Curtis is that Strickland and Till should be interchangeable.

“He’s Sean — just tell me, ‘Don’t be a b****.'” Curtis said. “Darren is full of the same energy and enthusiasm as Sean. “Darren has the same energy as Sean.

If Till needs backup, he’s not the only Brit that will be in Curtis’ corner. Not long after Till agreed to join the team, PFL star Brendan Loughnane will also be working the corner.

With two Englishmen at his side and his usual two Las Vegas corners, Curtis expects a lot of attention from the crowd.