Dillon Danis

Dillon Danis (born August 22, 1993) is an American mixed martial artist who is currently a free agent. Danis has competed in the Welterweight division of Bellator MMA. He also competed in the Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship.
He made his mixed martial arts debut at Bellator 198 against Kyle Walker and won via a toe hold in the first round. He then faced Max Humphreys at Bellator 222 and won via armbar in the first round. He was involved in a melee at UFC 229 after Khabib Nurmagomedov proceeded to throw his mouthpiece and then scaled the cage and appeared to jump towards him. He responded by throwing punches at Nurmagomedov before an all-out brawl ensued. He was subsequently fined $7,500 and suspended for 7 months following the incident. Throughout his career, Danis has become the subject of many controversies due to his behaviour.
He was scheduled to face English YouTuber KSI at MF & DAZN: X Series 004 but withdrew due to lack of preparation and coaching. In his debut professional boxing match, he was defeated by American YouTuber Logan Paul via disqualification.
Background
Born to a Spanish-Honduran mother and Armenian father, raised in Parsippany–Troy Hills, New Jersey, Danis attended Parsippany Hills High School and started wrestling there as a freshman, despite the fact that he "couldn't do one pushup". He started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 15 after he was involved in a fight at school. At 17, Danis started making trips to Marcelo Garcia's academy in New York and at 19 he eventually moved to New York in order to actively pursue a career in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. After wins at various high-level tournaments he was awarded his black belt at 21 years of age.
Mixed martial arts career
In 2016, Danis came to light in the mixed martial arts community when he was asked to join the training camp of UFC fighter Conor McGregor as a coach and training partner ahead of his rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 202. He would continue to work with Conor, helping him to prepare for the Khabib Nurmagomedov bout. Due to his image in the media prior to the fight with Diaz, Marcelo Garcia disassociated Danis from his school.
Bellator MMA
In 2018, Danis was scheduled to make his MMA debut at Bellator 198 against Kyle Walker. He won via a toe hold in the first round of the fight. Danis’ next fight was against Max Humphreys at Bellator 222 at a catchweight of 175 lbs. Danis won the fight via armbar in the first round.
Danis confirmed in 2023 that he has two fights left on his Bellator contract and intends to complete both of them in 2023, along with at least one more fight after.
On October 21, 2023, it was reported by Ariel Helwani that Danis had been released from his Bellator contract.
Grappling events
On May 9, 2015, Danis fought UFC veteran Joe Lauzon at Metamoris 6. Danis won via a D'arce choke.
On October 29, 2016, Danis fought at Polaris Pro Grappling 4 against Jackson Sousa. Danis won via an inside heel hook. He also participated in Polaris 5 at a catchweight (-78 kg) where he lost a judges decision to Garry Tonon. Danis also commented that he will be participating in an upcoming ADCC event on Ariel Helwani's podcast.
Boxing career
Cancelled bout with KSI
On November 18, 2022, Danis made an appearance at the press conference for MF & DAZN: X Series 003 where he confronted British YouTuber KSI. During the broadcast on November 19, it was announced that Danis would face KSI on January 14, 2023, at Wembley Arena in London, England as the headliner to X Series 004. However, Danis withdrew on January 4 with Mams Taylor, promoter and matchmaker for Misfits Boxing, stating the reason being that he is "underprepared, he [Danis] has no coach, he might be struggling with weight." Danis was replaced by Brazilian YouTuber FaZe Temperrr.
Danis vs Paul
On August 8, 2023, it was announced that Danis would face American YouTuber Logan Paul as the second main event for X Series 10 – The Prime Card alongside KSI vs Tommy Fury on October 14 at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
During the bout, Danis was disqualified in the sixth round after attempting a takedown and an illegal choke. Immediately after, a brawl broke out in the ring and security intervened. Danis later announced his intention to appeal the disqualification loss. On October 21, 2023, Danis officially submitted an appeal of the decision.
Championships and accomplishments
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
IBJJF Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship
Purple belt medio: 3rd place (2012)
Brown belt medio: 2nd place (2013)
Brown belt medio: 1st place (2014)
Black belt pesado: 1st place (2016)
IBJJF New York Spring International Open
Brown belt medio: 2nd place (2015)
Brown belt open class: 1st place (2015)
IBJJF New York Summer International Open
Brown belt medio: 1st place (2014)
IBJJF Boca Raton International Open
Black belt medio: 1st place (2015)
IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu Championships
Brown belt medio: 1st place (2014)
Controversies
UFC 229 Nurmagomedov–McGregor post-fight incident
At UFC 229, Danis—a member of Conor McGregor's corner team—was involved in a melee when Khabib Nurmagomedov, after submitting McGregor, proceeded to throw his mouthpiece at McGregor's corner team and then scaled the cage and appeared to jump towards Danis. Danis responded by throwing punches at Khabib before an all-out brawl ensued. Longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan has claimed that Danis was insulting Nurmagomedov in an attempt to provoke him stating, "Dillon (Danis) was absolutely insulting Khabib, saying something to him and provoking him and then Khabib just jumped over the cage and attacked him". Danis was subsequently fined $7,500 and suspended for 7 months following the incident. Danis did not comment publicly until March 11, 2019, where he told Ariel Helwani on the ESPN MMA podcast that Khabib started taunting him in the second or third round and was aggressive throughout the event.
New Jersey arrest
Danis was arrested on September 18, 2021, after getting into an altercation with a bouncer outside a nightclub in New Jersey where Danis was overpowered, restrained, and choked out. Danis later claimed that the bouncer and bartenders from the nightclub were at fault for the altercation, and that officers released him after approximately twenty minutes.
ADCC PEDs accusations
In October 2021, Danis accused UFC veteran Jake Shields of offering him PEDs prior to the 2017 ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship.
UFC 268 altercation
Danis was removed from the building at UFC 268 on November 6, 2021, after getting into an altercation with MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz where he was slapped by Abdelaziz.
Endorsement of cryptocurrency scams
In February 2023, Stephen "Coffeezilla" Findeisen, a YouTuber known for exposing cryptocurrency scams, accused Danis of accepting cash to promote cryptocurrency and NFT scams to his social media followers without performing due diligence. Findeisen's team paid Danis $1,000 to promote a fake NFT project on his Twitter account, which actually contained a link to a website listing 20 cryptocurrency and NFT projects that Danis endorsed and Findeisen claims are scams. According to Insider, Danis is yet to issue a response to the allegations.
Restraining order
During the build up to his boxing match with Logan Paul on October 14, 2023, Danis continuously shared images of Paul's fiancée Nina Agdal on social media. Agdal filed a lawsuit and on September 8, Agdal was granted a temporary restraining order.
Professional mixed martial arts record
|-
|Win
|align=center|2–0
|Max Humphrey
|Submission (armbar)
|Bellator 222
|
|align=center|1
|align=center|4:28
|New York City, New York, United States
|
|-
|Win
|align=center|1–0
|Kyle Walker
|Submission (toe hold)
|Bellator 198
|
|align=center|1
|align=center|1:38
|Rosemont, Illinois, United States
|
|-
Professional boxing record
Submission grappling record
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:80%; text-align:left;"
|-
| colspan=8 style="text-align:center;" | 9 Matches, 5 Wins, 4 Losses 0 Draws
|-
! Result
! Rec.
! Opponent
! Method
! text-center| Event
! Date
! Location
|-
| Loss ||align=center|5–4|| Gordon Ryan || Referee Decision || rowspan=3|ADCC 2017 || rowspan=3|September 23, 2017 || rowspan=3| Espoo, Finland
|-
| Win ||align=center|5–3|| Yukiyasu Ozawa || N/A
|-
| Loss ||align=center|4–3|| Mahamed Aly || N/A
|-
| Loss ||align=center|4–2|| Jake Shields || N/A || Submission Underground 4 || May 14, 2017 || Portland, OR, United States
|-
| Win ||align=center|4–1|| AJ Agazarm || N/A || Submission Underground 3 || January 29, 2017 || Portland, OR, United States
|-
| Loss ||align=center|3–1|| Max Gimenis || N/A || Copa Podio || July 9, 2016 || Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
|-
| Win ||align=center|3–0|| Joe Lauzon || Submission (D'Arce Choke) || Metamoris 6 || May 9, 2015 || California, United States
|-
| Win ||align=center|2–0|| Jonathan Satava || N/A || rowspan=2|2014 IBJJF World Jiu Jitsu No-Gi Championship || rowspan=2|October 5, 2014 || rowspan=2| Azusa, California, United States
|-
Pay-per-view bouts
Awards and nominations
See also
List of current Bellator fighters
References
1993 births
American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu
American male mixed martial artists
American people of Armenian descent
American people of Honduran descent
Welterweight mixed martial artists
Mixed martial artists from New Jersey
Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Living people
Bellator male fighters
Parsippany Hills High School alumni
People from Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey
Sportspeople from Morris County, New Jersey
American male boxers