The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White has expressed that he does not appear to favor the antics of free agent Dillon Danis.
When asked about the possibility of Danis joining the UFC roster, White acknowledged that Danis has openly expressed interest in signing with the organization. However, White did not seem enthusiastic about the prospect.
While White did not entirely rule out the possibility, he questioned whether Danis should be signed. In a recent interview, White stated that he heard Danis had retired.
It seems White’s issue stems from the controversy that often surrounds Danis. He was involved in the well-publicized post-fight incident following the UFC 229 main event between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018. After Nurmagomedov defeated McGregor, he jumped the cage to confront Danis, who was in McGregor’s corner, igniting chaos in and around the octagon. Nurmagomedov took issue with some of Danis’ pre-fight comments.
“The other thing with him is, and I have no beef with the kid at all – I’ve probably said two words to him in my whole life. But every time he’s around, sh*t’s going down,” White said. “We can’t have that stuff going on here. A lot of people will see when guys get into it on stage, they’re like, ‘Oh, they must love this’ or whatever. No, we don’t love it.
“We don’t need that sh*t to sell fights. And basically what happens is when that goes down, the athletic commission goes crazy and people start getting fined and for us, it’s our job to keep that sh*t under control..”
As White mentioned, “Whenever he’s around, something goes down. We can’t have that type of situation here. Many see confrontations on stage and think we must enjoy it, but that’s not the case. We don’t need that to sell fights. It causes issues with the athletic commission through fines and it’s our job to keep things under control. That’s why these other events with guys getting into it look like a total unprofessional circus.
White also referenced Danis’ heated rivalry with Logan Paul leading up to their boxing exhibition last month. Danis targeted Paul’s fiancé, resulting in a lawsuit against him for sharing photos without consent. Danis lost the exhibition match to Paul via disqualification.
As an MMA fighter, Danis has a record of 2-0 over two Bellator appearances, defeating his opponents by submission both times. However, a serious knee injury has delayed his career progression. At 30 years old, focusing solely on MMA could allow time for Danis to still achieve success if he can avoid extracurricular distractions.
