Dana White Pours Cold Water on Chances of Dillon Danis Joining UFC
Dillon Danis is certainly a big enough name for the UFC to at least consider signing him, but Dana White believes that adding him to the roster might be more trouble than it’s worth.
Arguably no individual has managed to attain as much notoriety in the combat sports world with as few fights as Danis. A successful grappling career led into a brief two-fight run with Bellator, but “El Jefe” was released from that promotion following his first foray into boxing earlier this year.
Danis’ release from Bellator and the fanfare around his boxing debut against Logan Paul have led to considerable speculation that he might sign with the UFC, but White has some concerns about what the controversial fighter would bring to the promotion.
Danis has competed in MMA on two occasions.
(Lucas Noonan/Bellator MMA)
“I have no beef with the kid at all, I’ve probably said two words to him in my whole life,” White explained on the Full Send Podcast. “But every time he’s around, s***’s going down. We can’t have that stuff going on here. A lot of people will see when guys get into it on stage or something starts to happen, they’re like ‘Oh, they must love this’ or whatever. No. No, we don’t love it.”
Danis’ list of exploits includes being involved in a cageside brawl after his teammate Conor McGregor was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, and his boxing debut against Paul in October also ended in a melee when “El Jefe” attempted to lock up a guillotine choke in the waning seconds of the fight.
White's job is to sell big fights and promote the UFC brand as much as possible, but he’s not convinced that the extra attention brought from signing Danis would balance out the potential headaches he might create.
Danis' boxing debut attracted plenty of attention from fans.
(Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
“We don’t need that s*** to sell fights…The athletic commission goes crazy and people start getting fined and they come after us. It’s our job to keep that s*** under control. That’s why when you see these other events with these guys and everything breaks out like that…It’s a total, unprofessional clown show.”
The comments from the UFC CEO certainly seem to indicate that signing Danis isn't exactly at the top of the promotion's list of priorities heading into next year.
Given the 30-year-old’s association with McGregor and his ability to sell fights, fans will probably still keep discussing the possibility of him stepping into the Octagon at some point until he actually ends his ongoing free agency.
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