Dillon Danis

Dillon Danis (born August 22, 1993) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the Welterweight division of Bellator MMA.

Background

Born to a Honduran mother and 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".Harper, Matt
"Excellence on mat, in class pins down honor for Danis"
'' Daily Record'', January 26, 2011. Accessed November 29, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Over the last three years, Dillon Danis of Parsippany has honed his skills as a wrestler and begun to master the art of jujitsu while also excelling in the classroom. His efforts of late were enough to earn him the Student of the Month Award at Parsippany Hills High School. Danis, 17, joined the wrestling team his freshman year at the urging of history teacher and head wrestling coach Jason Lodato." 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 rewarded his black belt at 19 years of age.

In 2016, Danis came to light in the mixed martial arts community when he was asked 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.

Mixed martial arts career

In 2016 Danis was invited train with Conor McGregor for his fight 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 made 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.

Boxing career

KSI vs Danis

On 19 November 2022, it was announced that Danis would be facing KSI in a professional boxing match. The bout is scheduled to take place at the Wembley Arena on 14 January 2023 as the fourth event under Misfits Promotion since its inception.

Grappling events

On May 9, 2015, Danis fought UFC veteran Joe Lauzon at Metamoris 6. Danis won via a D'arc 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.

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 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.

Misfits 003 press conference incident

Danis showed up to the press conference for the Misfits boxing promotion owned by influencer KSI. During the press conference he had a face off with KSI at which point Danis struck him before throwing coffee on him. This led to a melee inside the building that would extend to the parking lot where Danis and many others were involved in an altercation. It was later confirmed after this incident that Danis and KSI would be competing in a boxing match in January 2023.

Mixed martial arts record

, Win
, align=center, 2–0
, Max Humphrey
, Submission (armbar)
, Bellator 222
,
, align=center, 1
, align=center, 4:28
, 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
,
, -

Exhibition boxing record

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
, -
!
!Result
!Record
!Opponent
!Type
!Round, time
!Date
!Location
!Notes
, -
, 1
,
,
, style="text-align:left;", KSI
,
, – (6)
, Jan 14, 2023
, style="text-align:left;",
,
, -

See also

*List of current Bellator fighters

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danis, Dillon
1993 births
American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu
American male mixed martial artists
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