Dillon Danis has a theory about why he never got a UFC contract, and it puts the blame on Dana White. According to a report from MMA Sucka, Danis claimed that White banned him from the promotion to shield Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev. In his telling, the UFC didn’t want the friction and competition his presence would bring to the Dagestani champions. The available reporting doesn’t include the full wording of his comments, and the claim is unproven. Neither White nor the UFC has addressed it in the sources available.
The timing is hard to miss. One day earlier, the RAF 14 press conference came apart when Danis and Arman Tsarukyan started brawling, with Khamzat Chimaev and multiple members of their teams pulled in, according to footage shared by Red Corner MMA. Ariel Helwani posted that one security guard was bleeding and called it an ugly scene. In video circulated by Championship Rounds, Chimaev can be heard shouting at Danis, “Hey you don’t know who is your daddy btch! I’ll fck you up.”
Danis, 33, has history with this crowd that goes back eight years. He was in Conor McGregor’s corner at UFC 229, where Khabib finished McGregor, threw his mouthpiece and went over the cage in what appeared to be a leap toward Danis. Danis was fined $7,500 and suspended seven months for his part in the melee that followed.
View post on X
His actual fight résumé is thinner than his profile. A black belt under Marcelo Garcia’s system by 21, he went 2-0 in Bellator with first-round submissions of Kyle Walker (toe hold) and Max Humphreys (armbar), then went years without fighting. Helwani reported his Bellator release on Oct. 21, 2023. Danis said at the time he wanted a UFC deal and wouldn’t fight MMA again without one, then announced his retirement less than a month later. He lost his pro boxing debut to Logan Paul by disqualification. These days he holds the Misfits MMA light heavyweight title and is signed to RAF’s cruiserweight division.
View post on X
Khabib retired at 29-0 and was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2022, so any idea that the UFC needed to protect him from Danis inside the Octagon runs into an obvious wall. Makhachev has been on the UFC roster the whole time, and Danis never booked a fight in the promotion that would have tested the theory. What Danis does have is a fresh feud with Tsarukyan and Chimaev on an RAF card, which is the closest he’s come to standing across from that circle since the night in Las Vegas when Khabib’s mouthpiece went flying in his direction.
View post on X
