DALLAS – UFC welterweight Darren Till has suffered mightily to compete at 170 pounds. But he didn’t for the biggest fight of his life.

Till said his weight cut for a fight against champ Tyron Woodley was “really easy,” and that’s why he can’t say whether he’ll move up a division.

“In my mind, I can still do three weeks and make weight like that again,” Till (17-1-1 MMA, 5-1-1 UFC) said after submitting to Woodley (19-3-1 MMA, 9-2-1 UFC) in the second round of UFC 228’s pay-per-view headliner at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

In the throes of his most recent cut, Till told anyone who would listen that his days as a welterweight were numbered. Then he made the mark without issue.

A loss to Woodley only appears to have motivated Till not to leave his longtime division on a down note.

“It’s down to (my coach) Colin (Heron), no matter what I say,” he said. “I’ll listen to him 100 percent. It just pisses me off that someone was better than me tonight.”

The experience of a first loss hit the U.K. star hard as he sat at the post-fight press conference. In his attempt to explain why he fell short, he pointed to his pre-bout warmup and said it left him in the wrong state for Woodley.

“I was too relaxed,” he said. “I was too confident. I’m always confident – everyone knows that. But I was too, like, the job had already been done in my head.

“I wasn’t really warming up. I was just ready to go in there and fight. Maybe looking back, I should have been more aggressive backstage. … I don’t have the same ritual for every fight, and this time it cost me everything.”

Till looked at his girlfriend, the subject of much concern over previous comments he made about his singular focus leading up to the fight.

“Because this is, it’s even more important than you,” he said. “No, that’s a joke. I shouldn’t say that again.”

Laughter helped dull some of the pain Till felt. But ultimately, he said there was no way to sugarcoat what had happened. He was not the better man on Saturday night against Woodley.

Till said nothing about what the champ did on fight night came as a surprise to the young challenger. Still, he got caught with a punch that floored him and set the end in motion. That gnaws at him.

“I am still going to be the greatest,” he said. “I know that. All the greats have lost, and that’s my first loss tonight. I’m still OK, but I’m just upset.”

Later, Till added: “He’s not a better fighter than me, but tonight he was better. And it kills me inside, it does.”

For complete coverage of UFC 228, check out the UFC Events section of the site.