Dana White has no issues with Dillon Danis despite the grappling star’s checkered past, but he’s not so sure there’s a spot for him in the UFC.
From the UFC 229 post-fight brawl between Khabib Nurmagomedov’s camp and Conor McGregor’s, which included Danis, to his recent, controversial promotional tactics and embarrassing boxing match with Logan Paul, where Danis goes, chaos follows.
That is not lost on UFC President and CEO White, who was asked about Danis during a recent Podcast appearance. Danis has stated publicly that he wants to be in the UFC, and the fighter recently parted ways with Bellator MMA, here he amassed a 2-0 record.
“I don’t know. Do you think he should be [in the UFC]?” White replied when asked about Danis on The Full Send podcast. “I heard he just retired.”
“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,” added White, pointing out exactly why Danis joining the world’s largest MMA promotion could cause a headache. “We can’t have that stuff going on here.”
Despite numerous press conference altercations, from Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier to Khamzat Chimaev and just about everybody ahead of UFC 279, Dana White correctly pointed out that chaos of that nature simply isn’t wanted by the promotion — or by athletic commissions.
“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,” explained White. “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.. That’s why, when you see these other events and see these guys and everything breaks out like that, it’s a total, unprofessional clown show.”
