Dillon Danis will field Logan Paul in Manchester this weekend, on the identical card that pits KSI in opposition to Tommy Fury. However simply who’s Danis?
The American, 30, has by no means competed in a boxing match earlier than, together with his expertise as an alternative coming in jiu-jitsu and combined martial arts.
Nonetheless, Danis has not fought in MMA in 4 years, and he solely has two skilled bouts to his identify. Danis did win each by way of first-round submission, although his latter opponent – Max Humphrey – went 3-3 together with his loss to Danis and has not competed since. In the meantime, Danis’s first opponent – Kyle Walker (to not be confused with the Premier League footballer) – fell to 2-5 by shedding to Danis. Walker has additionally not fought since.
Danis’s MMA bouts befell within the welterweight division of Bellator, the place he obtained a highlight due to his place in Conor McGregor’s group.
Whereas Danis is now not a teammate of McGregor, he was a jiu-jitsu sparring accomplice of the UFC icon for a while. McGregor claimed he would practice Danis for his bout with Paul, although that seemingly didn’t come to go.
Danis was famously on the receiving finish of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s post-fight assault in 2018, when the Russian jumped out of the Octagon and leapt into the gang, moments after submitting McGregor to retain the UFC light-weight belt.
Two years prior, Danis employed his abilities to win gold in his weight class on the Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship. In the meantime, his submission grappling document stands at 5-4.
Regardless of his black-belt prowess, Danis was filmed getting caught in a choke by a bouncer in 2021, although the fighter did have a major harm on the time.
Forward of his combat with Paul, Danis has managed to extend his profile by repeatedly taking purpose at his compatriot’s fiancee, Nina Agdal. On social media, Danis has posted quite a few images and clips of the Danish mannequin with numerous males, main Agdal to be granted a short lived restraining order in September.
In January of this 12 months, Danis was attributable to field KSI however withdrew whereas citing an absence of coaching. KSI (actual identify Olajide Olatunji) is a YouTuber-turned-boxer like Paul, and the pair – who fought one another in 2018 and 2019 – now run the power drink firm Prime collectively.