Tag: Dillon Danis

Bellator’s Dillon Danis says he had seven-hour reconstructive knee surgery

Dillon Danis is on the road to recovery.

Bellator prospect [autotag]Dillon Danis[/autotag] is just beginning his road to recovery.

Danis, a jiu-jitsu blackbelt who serves as a coach for UFC star Conor McGregor, announced Saturday on Twitter that he underwent a seven-hour surgery to “reconstruct” his knee. Danis’ tweet was accompanied by a photo of him laying in a hospital bed.

“This has been one of the toughest tests of my career, but i’m [sic] fully committed to take it head on and come back stronger than ever,” he said. “You can break my body but never my spirit!”

It’s unclear how long Danis’ recovery will be. When contacted by MMA Junkie, Bellator couldn’t provide further details but issued a statement.

“We’ll be in touch with Dillon and his management team in the coming weeks to discuss a potential timeline for his return,” the statement read. “In the meantime, we wish him a full and speedy recovery.”

Danis had been scheduled to fight Jan. 25 at Bellator 238, but withdrew from the card after injuring his knee while helping McGregor prepare for his UFC 246 fight against Donald Cerrone. At the UFC 246 ceremonial weigh-ins, Danis was spotted on crutches and with his right leg wrapped. He told ESPN at the time that he’d had surgery to repair injuries to the LCL and meniscus.

Danis, 26, hasn’t been very active in his MMA career to this point. He’s 2-0, with both wins being first-round submissions under the Bellator banner. He made his debut in April 2018 and didn’t fight again until June 2019.

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Bellator 239 victor Kyle Crutchmer wants Dillon Danis next: ‘I think he needs to get his ass whooped’

Kyle Crutchmer isn’t usually the calling-out type, but when asked who he wants next, one name came straight to mind – Dillon Danis.

THACKERVILLE, Okla. – [autotag]Kyle Crutchmer[/autotag] isn’t usually the calling-out type but, when asked who’s next, one name came straight to his mind.

Crutchmer (6-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) remained unbeaten with a first-round submission over Scott Futrell at Bellator 239 and, while he doesn’t foresee anyone giving him a challenge just yet, he said he’d love to take on jiu-jitsu ace [autotag]Dillon Danis[/autotag].

“I don’t have a dangerous opponent but I want to (expletive) fight Dillon Danis. So whenever his (expletive) ass is ready, let me know,” Crutchmer told reporters, including MMA Junkie, backstage at the WinStar World Casino.

“I do want to beat his ass. I don’t really see anybody as a potential threat for me right now. Once I climb up the rankings a little bit more then we can be able to say some things like that, but I think Dillon Danis needs to get his ass whooped and I would be the guy to do it.”

Training out of American Kickboxing Academy, former Oklahoma State wrestler Crutchmer said Danis should quit trying to chase a fight with YouTuber Logan Paul and instead and face someone who’d actually be willing to fight him.

“If you want to fight someone, dude I’m ready,” said Crutchmer. “I’ll fight your ass. If you want to fight someone that’s willing to fight you, I’m here, ready to go. I don’t call people out but, to me, I would like to see that guy try and take me down and get me to the ground. I’ll beat his ass on his feet.”

Crutchmer also issued a thinly-veiled warning to the SBG-trained fighter, as he cited his teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov’s performance against Danis’ teammate Conor McGregor as an example of how he plans to dominate him if they ever meet inside the Bellator cage.

“I don’t have a lot of animosity towards people,” he said. “I’ve never met the guy, but I think he’s just kind of playing a coattail on Conor McGregor, and you’ve seen what my teammate did to him.”

Injuries cancel Dillon Danis, Khonry Gracie’s fights from Bellator 238

Two of the bigger names scheduled for Bellator 238 are now off the card after suffering undisclosed injuries.

Next week’s Bellator 238 will proceed minus two of their more interesting personalities.

Two bouts were scratched from the card Friday due to undisclosed injuries to the fights’ respective A-sides: [autotag]Dillon Danis[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Kegan Gennrich[/autotag], and [autotag]Khonry Gracie[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Hector Saldana[/autotag]. MMA Junkie confirmed an initial report by ZThe Orange County Register through a source with knowledge of the situation.

Danis (2-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) the controversial associate of Conor McGregor and jiu-jitsu standout, was scheduled to meet Gennrich (2-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) in a 175-catchweight main-card bout.

Gracie (2-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA), the son of MMA founding father Royce Gracie, was slated to meet Hector Saldana (3-4 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) in a preliminary-card welterweight bout.

The cancelations drop the numbers of fights on the card to 15. No word yet on which preliminary fight might be bumped up to the evening’s main card.

Bellator 238 takes place Jan. 25 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The main card streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.

The fight will be part of the Bellator 238 prelims, which stream on MMA Junkie prior to the main card on DAZN from The Forum in Inglewood, Calif.

Why catchweight again? Dillon Danis says ‘when you’re the owner, you can do what you want’

Dillon Danis explains why his Bellator 238 fight vs. Kegan Gennrich, will be his third in a row at 175 pounds.

It appears [autotag]Dillon Danis[/autotag] has created his own Bellator weight class.

He returns to action on Jan. 25 when he takes on Kegan Gennrich at Bellator 238 at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., in his third consecutive 175-pound catchweight bout.

And Danis says the fight is at 175 pounds because he calls his own shots.

“Why catchweight? Yeah because I mean, when you’re the owner, you can do what you want so why not make your own weight,” Danis recently told media personality The Schmo. “Why do I have to go to everybody else’s weight class, when I can make my own weight class and have my own belt and do what I want so (expletive) everybody else.

“I just say it, and it happens. Just one text message from me.”

Danis is off to a 2-0 start to his Bellator tenure and is already one of the promotion’s biggest stars. A teammate of former UFC double champ Conor McGregor, Danis is happy with his career trajectory so far.

“I don’t know, I haven’t really thought that far yet,” Danis said on his future. “I’m having fun at what I’m doing. I think it’s hard to say, just keep going on my route now. I’m kinda already half owner of the company, maybe one day I’m going to own the full company, see what we do so I think everything is just going to plan.”

His high billing and placement on fight cards has proven his promotional pull, as Danis continues to boast about his relationship with the company, even going so far as to claim he owns a stake in the promotion.

“Yeah I already had ownership stake,” Danis said. “Right when I came in, right when I signed, I said the only way I sign to Bellator is if I get ownership stake so that’s what I mean – Coker, he calls me his business partner, you don’t ever hear him say that about anyone else. I’ve been on the main card since every single one of my fights.”

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Dillon Danis on Khabib Nurmagomedov in UFC 229 brawl: ‘He didn’t touch me at all’

But Dillon Danis remembers “uppercutting” Khabib during the mayhem.

Bellator prospect [autotag]Dillon Danis[/autotag] says the infamous UFC 229 brawl did not go down the way everyone thinks.

After UFC lightweight champion [autotag]Khabib Nurmagomedov[/autotag] submitted Danis’ teammate, [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag], in the fourth round of the October 2018 title fight, he jumped the cage and incited a brawl.

The person Nurmagomedov went after was Danis, when he leaped into the air to attack him. But Danis said that Nurmagomedov didn’t even touch him, as the two were quickly separated.

Speaking to “The Schmo,” in an interview released Wednesday, Danis gave his version of how it went down.

“No, he didn’t connect,” Danis said. “You know what’s funny, when he jumped over the thing, and he had his feet and his arms up, so like, he didn’t really know what he was going to hit me with. So I was like, am I going to get kicked right now or punched? I kind of just blocked then I hit him with a right hand, and then I remember him coming forward, and I was uppercutting him, and then he was just trying to run away, and I was trying to grab his head.

“It was just a whole mayhem and then everybody was getting punched, and cops were going all over the place, and … he didn’t touch me at all. I remember hitting him with a good amount of shots, and then I just remember him trying to pull away and run away from me, and I was trying to cup his head and uppercut him. But it was mayhem. Everything happened so fast.”

Danis is set to make his third appearance for Bellator on Jan. 25 against Kegan Gennrich at Bellator 238 in a 175-pound catchweight bout. Danis is currently in Las Vegas to help McGregor prepare for next week’s UFC 246 headlining bout vs. Donald Cerrone, which takes place Jan. 18 at T-Mobile Arena.

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If Conor McGregor needs to use jiu-jitsu vs. Donald Cerrone, Dillon Danis feels good about it

Dillon Danis thinks Conor McGregor’s jiu-jitsu is being heavily underestimated ahead of his fight with Donald Cerrone at UFC 246.

[autotag]Dillon Danis[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s jiu-jitsu is being heavily underestimated.

McGregor will take on Donald Cerrone next week in the main event of UFC 246, and there’s been a general notion heading into the fight: If Cerrone takes it to the ground, McGregor could be in trouble. That assessment has been shared by Jorge Masvidal, Georges St-Pierre, and various MMA analysts.

But Danis, a Bellator prospect who’s a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt and McGregor’s training partner, is confident in McGregor’s ability on the ground.

“Conor’s always been prepared, man,” Danis told “The Schmo.” in Wednesday interview. “Conor’s been one of the best jiu-jitsu guys that I’ve ever rolled with, like MMA-wise since I started training with him. His jiu-jitsu is on another level, and it always has been.”

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All four of McGregor’s professional losses have come by way of submission. In his last fight, McGregor lost by fourth-round rear-naked choke at the hands of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018.

While Cerrone has insisted he will keep the fight standing, Danis thinks McGregor will be more than ready if the fight does end up on the ground.

“I think people just underestimate him for some reason, but if it does go to the ground, they’ll see,” Danis said. “They’ll see how good he is.”

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20 fights on our MMA wishlist for 2020

Here are 20 fights MMA Junkie hopes to see happen in 2020.

With a new year comes new things, including good ol’-fashioned fist fights. What kinds of matchups are we hoping to see in 2020? What kinds of bookings do we want the MMA gods to bless us with? 

Here’s a list of some ideas and why they may (or may not) make sense:

Dillon Danis

20. [autotag]A.J. Agazarm[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Dillon Danis[/autotag]

This list is being kicked off by “El Jefe” himself. I know this will automatically trigger the Twitter trolls, but hear me out. Danis and Agazarm easily are two of the best grapplers Bellator has in its lighter weight classes. The two have competed against each other plenty of times in the grappling world and they don’t have a lot of love for each other. Their name value doesn’t match their experience level in MMA, so they both often have fights against unknown opponents, which makes their fights hard to promote.

So why not pit them against each other? It makes sense for both fighters skill-level wise, it could be a fun buildup, and we could certainly see some fun, world-class jiu-jitsu.

Bryce Mitchell

19. [autotag]Kron Gracie[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Bryce Mitchell[/autotag]

Let’s keep the jiu-jitsu train rolling. Gracie is jiu-jitsu royalty and Mitchell scored a cool-looking submission in his most recent fight – a twister. The UFC certainly is not shy about throwing Gracie against someone with far more experience (cough, cough – Cub Swanson). I know Mitchell is a bit more experienced than Gracie, but not by a crazy margin. Both guys need fights and have interesting and opposing personalities. Why not?

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MMA Junkie Radio #3012: Reaction to Bellator Hawaii doubleheader, UFC on ESPN+ 23

Hosts “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” unpack a trifecta of major MMA events and react to the latest news and notes.

Monday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with hosts “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here!

On Episode No. 3,012 of the podcast, the guys unpack a trifecta of major events from the weekend, with Bellator 235 and 236 in Honolulu, as well as UFC on ESPN+ 23 in Busan, South Korea. The guys also react to the latest news and notes.

THE RUNDOWN:

  • The weekend got off to a bad start for Bellator, with former UFC heavyweight champion [autotag]Josh Barnett[/autotag] forced to withdraw hours before the Bellator 235 headliner because of illness. When and where should Barnett vs. Ronny Markes take place now?
  • At UFC on ESPN+ 23, [autotag]Chan Sung Jung[/autotag] took care of business in a big way with a first-round TKO finish of ex-lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. Did “The Korean Zombie” do enough to shake up plans of title rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway? Are you warm to the idea of a No. 1 contender fight against [autotag]Zabit Magomedsharipov[/autotag]?
  • At Bellator 236, [autotag]Ilima-Lei Macfarlane[/autotag] retained her flyweight title with a dominant performance against Kate Jackson, and [autotag]A.J. McKee[/autotag] advanced to the semifinals of the featherweight grand prix with a submission of Derek Campos. The guys weigh in on both outcomes and more from the card.
  • [autotag]Kevin Lee[/autotag] gave an endorsement speech of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at a rally in Las Vegas. Pretty cool?
  • [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag], the Glory Kickboxing middleweight champion better known as the guy who knocked out Israel Adesanya, wants to fight MMA. Are you into it?
  • [autotag]Dillon Danis[/autotag] has his next fight lined up for Jan. 25 at Bellator 238. Is this guy a star for the promotion?
  • It sure does seem like [autotag]Jorge Masvidal[/autotag] would rather fight [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] instead of receive a welterweight title shot vs. Kamaru Usman. Does this make sense?
  • Former Bellator champion [autotag]Rory MacDonald[/autotag] left the promotion to sign with PFL. Good or bad move for him?

Stream or download this and all episodes of MMA Junkie Radio over at AudioBoom, or check it out above. You can also catch it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and more. A new episode of the podcast is released every Monday and Thursday.

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Dillon Danis to return at Bellator 238 in another 175-pound catchweight bout

Dillon Danis has his first fight of 2020 booked.

[autotag]Dillon Danis[/autotag] has his first fight of 2020 booked.

The jiu-jitsu star will take on [autotag]Kegan Gennrich[/autotag] on Jan. 25 at Bellator 238 from The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The bout will be contested at a 175-pound catchweight. The fight booked was announced by Bellator president Scott Coker on Friday.

Danis (2-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) last fought in June, when he submitted Max Humphrey in the first round at Bellator 222 in New York. The 26-year-old grappling ace remains undefeated with two submission wins under his belt.

Meanwhile, Gennrich (2-1 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) will be making his Bellator debut in this fight. He’s on a two-fight winning streak after having lost his professional debut via submission.

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Bellator 238 will be headlined by a women’s featherweight title fight involving champion Julia Budd and women’s MMA legend Cris Cyborg.

With the addition, the latest Bellator 238 lineup includes:

  • Champ Julia Budd vs. Cris Cyborg – for women’s featherweight title
  • Adam Borics vs. Darrion Caldwell
  • Alfred Khashakyan vs. Sergio Pettis
  • Dillon Danis vs. Kegan Gennrich
  • Aaron Pico vs. Daniel Carey
  • Mario Navarro vs. Jay Jay Wilson
  • Khonry Gracie vs. Hector Saldana
  • David Pacheco vs. Craig Plaskett
  • Brandon Bender vs. Gabriel Green
  • Dominic Clark vs. Ricardo Seixas Filho
  • Tyler Beneke vs. Jarrett Connor
  • AJ Agazarm vs. Adel Altamimi
  • Curtis Millender vs. Moses Murrietta

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