Dillon Danis will box against Logan Paul in Manchester this weekend, on the same card that sees KSI take on Tommy Fury. But who is Danis?
The 30-year-old American has never taken part in a boxing match before and instead has experience in jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts.
However, Danis hasn’t fought in MMA for four years and only has two professional fights to his name. Danis won both by submission in the first round, although his last opponent – Max Humphrey – lost 3-3 in his loss to Danis and has not competed since. Meanwhile, Danis’ first opponent – Kyle Walker (not to be confused with the Premier League footballer) – fell to 2-5 by losing to Danis. Walker also hasn’t fought since.
Danis’ MMA fights took place in Bellator’s welterweight division, where he was in the spotlight due to his place on Conor McGregor’s team.
Although Danis is no longer a teammate of McGregor, he was the UFC icon’s jiu-jitsu sparring partner for some time. McGregor claimed he was training Danis for his fight with Paul, but that apparently didn’t happen.
Danis was famously on the receiving end of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s post-fight attack in 2018, when the Russian jumped out of the Octagon and into the crowd shortly after handing over McGregor to retain the UFC lightweight belt.
Two years earlier, Danis used his skills to win gold in his weight class at the Pan Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championships. His submission grappling record is now 5-4.
Despite his black belt skills, Danis was filmed being choked by a bouncer in 2021, although the fighter had a serious injury at the time.
Before his fight with Paul, Danis managed to increase his notoriety by repeatedly targeting his compatriot’s fiancée, Nina Agdal. On social media, Danis posted numerous photos and clips of the Danish model with various men, which led to Agdal being granted a restraining order in September.
In January this year, Danis was supposed to box with KSI, but withdrew citing a lack of training. Like Paul, KSI (real name Olajide Olatunji) is a YouTuber-turned-boxer, and the pair – who fought each other in 2018 and 2019 – now run energy drink company Prime together.
