Till, who was always an unusually large welterweight, often had to fight two separate battles during fight week: first would come the weight-cut and then, a day and a half later, would come the other person to have inked their name to a bout agreement. The thing is he would relish the second part of that deal, but the first part? Not so much. 

Towards the end of Till's run at welterweight it became clear that the process of sucking water out of his body was having a detrimental impact on him. After missing weight early in his UFC career, he did again in May of last year ahead of a hometown fight against Stephen Thompson - a bout which was supposed to signal his ascent to the top of the division. 

In a way, it did exactly that as Till defeated the two-time UFC title challenger by close (but fair) decision, but the dominant narrative coming out of the fight wasn't so much about how the Englishman would fare against the rest of the divisional elite, but rather a question as to if he could even make championship weight.

We would soon find out. Last September Till was placed into a world title bout against then-champ Tyron Woodley and by his own admission spent significant time fretting about his weight, and less time scheming his way to a potential victory against the champion. 

Till was defeated by second-round submission in a fight in which he landed precisely one strike in over 9 minutes of action, which tells its own story. 

His redemption was supposed to come a few months later inside his own capital city but his opponent in the UFC London main event earlier this year, Jorge Masvidal, had other plans entirely. The defeat, the first KO loss of Till's career, was a bitter pill to swallow and directly led to the career crossroads at which Till eventually opted to take the path labeled 'middleweight'.

On November 2, a new iteration of the talented striker will take to the cage inside Madison Square Garden, this time unshackled by the practice of an overwhelming weight cut (in theory at least) and opposite him will stand another man familiar with Till's path.

Kelvin Gastelum is another reformed welterweight who opted to move up a division after missing the welterweight limit twice in three fight. In a way, his career at 185lbs represents the blueprint of what Till is trying to achieve. Gastelum's striking has blossomed in his new weight class, with his power remaining intact as well as the relatively small fighter enjoying a clear speed advantage against some of the division's more lumbering athletes. 

Gastelum, like Till, was initially resistant to moving up to the middleweight stanza but since he arrived in his new home he has doled out concussive KO's to the likes of Tim Kennedy and Michael Bisping, both of whom who have competed at light heavyweight in the past, and it is difficult to argue that he didn't make the correct call. He was close to becoming the first man to defeat Israel Adesanya prior to the Kiwi winning the undisputed middleweight championship and while he wasn't happy about the nature of that defeat, it did signal to the division exactly how competitive he can be. 

Should Till win there will likely be whispers of him challenging Adesanya for the world title and while that certainly shouldn't happen right away, it would be a fascinating clash of striking styles. If Gastelum is successful, ditto, but with the narrative being more centered around him giving Adesanya his toughest test yet. 

And how will those wins come? Till will play his game of waiting on the outside and lining up his sensational straight left from the southpaw stance, while Gastelum will hope to do the opposite and get inside at every opportunity to land the type of short-range hook which rendered Till's compatriot Michael Bisping asleep. 

It is high stakes for both men. Till cannot afford to add a third successive loss to his record and Gastelum knows that another defeat, which would be his second in a row, places him far down the pecking order so as to rule out title contention in the near future.

Whose brand of striking will come out on top? We find out Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.