The last UFC event Dillon Danis and Conor McGregor were at ended in sheer chaos.
We are just over a week away from Conor McGregor’s first UFC fight in 15 months and the anticipation is building. As he has done for the past few years, Dillon Danis is helping McGregor to prepare for a big fight and doing his best, on his side, to add to the hype.
The Bellator star and McGregor, along with UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, missed a chunk of 2018 and 2019 after they were suspended for the post-UFC 229 brawl at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
While McGregor may have instigated flashpoints – stealing Jose Aldo’s belt, flinging a can at Nate Diaz, attacking a bus carrying fighters at UFC 223 – before his title defeat to Nurmagomedov, both he and Danis were on the receiving end in October 2018. Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor before leaping from The Octagon to trade blows with Danis at the same time as several from his entourage stormed in to attack McGregor.
While there remains unfinished business between McGregor, Nurmagomedov and Danis, the immediate focus is on the Dubliner’s January 18 bout with Donald Cerrone. Danis says he can see the fight going one of two ways, but he does not see it going beyond the second round.
“It’ll either go quick or Conor will just masterfully pick him apart and dismantle him,” Dillon Danis told Helen Yee. “So either a quick finish or two rounds in which Conor picks him apart and puts him away.
“Not all masterpieces are made in seconds. The way it’s going right now, Conor looks amazing. He’s in great shape and has such a great mind-space. I’m really excited to see it and it’s going to be a show for everybody.”
Should McGregor successfully get past Cerrone, the big question will be will ‘The Notorious’ remain at welterweight or will he opt to drop back down to seek a rematch with Nurmagomedov.
“That fight is happen,” declares Danis. “It doesn’t matter where or when, but it’s happening. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the cage or not, but I can’t wait for the day that they fight again because I know the outcome. I believe in Conor, 100%.”
The New Yorker is looking forward to Nurmagomedov’s April title defence against Tony Ferguson, at UFC 249 in Brooklyn. He notes that Ferguson has good takedown defence and vast wrestling experience and says the winner of that bout would be a toss up.
As for his own MMA career, Dillon Danis is back fighting on January 25 against Keegan Greenwich at ‘contractweight’ [175lbs]. That Bellator card will also feature Sergio Pettis, Darion Caldwell and is being headlined by Julia Budd’s featherweight title fight against former UFC champion Kris Cyborg.
Read more: Dillon Danis reveals advice given to him by Conor McGregor
