Israel Adesanya is still keen to defend his UFC middleweight title against Darren Till, despite his defeat to Robert Whittaker.

Till put up a brave and determined performance against former champion Whittaker in the main event of the final card staged at UFC's 'Fight Island'.

Whittaker was taken the distance by the Liverpudlian but, despite having to get off the mat in the final round, was scored 48-47 by all three judges to win his first bout since dropping the title to Adesanya in October 2019.

There is likely to be clamour for Whittaker (22-5-0) to earn another crack at Adesanya, who himself took to social media to state his desire to one day go up against Till.

"I still wanna fight Till one day," he posted on Twitter. "His striking is beautiful. Stay up Darren!"

Till (18-3-1) has now lost three of his previous four fights but his performance against Whittaker is unlikely to hurt his stock too much.

The 27-year-old believes he showed he is at championship level and is keen to fight Whittaker again if he does not get the rematch with Adesanya next.

"There are a few fights there. If Rob doesn't get a title shot, I'd really enjoy going to New Zealand and fighting him again," Till said.

"It was a close fight against a former champion, but I'm up there. I've shown how clinically good I am at striking."