An MMA Thanksgiving: 2022 All-Turkey Team

Dillon Danis

Near the beginning of the year, Bellator MMA President Scott Coker sounded optimistic that Dillon Danis was ready to return to the cage for the first time since 2019.

“He’s been texting me all weekend and saying he wants to get back in, [that] he’s ready to get back in,” Coker said after Bellator 275 in February. “So as soon as I get back home, I’m going to call him. We’re going to see if we can put something together for him, but it’s going to be up to him. He’s going to have to really want it. He’s going to [have to] train and get in there.”

the biggest name in combat sports history just walked in the building… the real main event is here. #ufc281 pic.twitter.com/wlsqDsuzJ5

— Dillon Danis (@dillondanis) November 13, 2022

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who gained notoriety as a training partner of Conor McGregor, Danis has been an outspoken figure since he signed with Bellator. However, other than a pair of submission wins over handpicked opponents in 2018 and 2019, Danis has been relatively quiet when it comes to actual MMA bouts.

That trend has continued well into 2022. Despite Coker’s proclamation, Danis has not gotten any closer to competing for Bellator again. While his MMA career has stalled, he made a habit of making cameos in scuffles outside the cage. Recent incidents include an altercation with Nate Diaz near Madison Square Garden at UFC 281, where Paradigm Sports head Audie Attar served as peacemaker, and a potentially staged confrontation between Danis and YouTube personality/boxer KSI that led to the jiu-jitsu practitioner getting punched outside the venue by former Bellator competitor Anthony Taylor in a separate incident. Whether the scene with Danis and Taylor was choreographed is debatable, but it is the closest thing to Bellator action Danis has had in quite some time.

“I’m not sure what to think about it,” Coker said regarding the melee involving Danis and Taylor during a post-fight press conference for Bellator 288. “All I got to say to Anthony and to Dillon is that you shouldn’t be out there fighting for free. If you want to fight for free, please give me a call, but you’re a professional prizefighter and you should fight in the cage or the ring. I’m not sure what the tactics there are.”

Coker is not alone in that regard. As it turns out, the skirmish with KSI led to Danis being booked against the rapper and social media personality in a boxing match as part of a pay-per-view in London in early 2023. Of course, boxing is probably less in Danis’ comfort zone than MMA, and he does not seem any closer competing in that realm than he did at the beginning of the year.

“When you think about Dillon Danis, the guy has a great ground game. He was one of the best jiu-jitsu guys on the planet at one time, so we signed him. We wanted to develop him. We wanted him to come into our system and fight tougher guys and work [his] way up,” Coker said. “I think he got sidetracked a little bit, and other things got in the way. To me, he had a lot of potential. We can’t make him do it. He’s got to want to do it, but right now, he’s doing something else.”

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