Following his defeat by disqualification in the co-main event at MF & DAZN: X Series 10 – The Prime Card last Saturday, Dillon Danis has remained in London in the days afterward. He appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored to discuss his fight with Logan Paul and his future plans.
Danis’ thoughts on the fight
Danis began the interview wearing blacked-out sunglasses which the host, Piers Morgan, asked him to remove in order to show his eyes. Danis obliged, revealing bruising to his left eye and a mark under his right. Playing it off, Danis said his injuries weren’t too bad, and such abrasions are expected in the aftermath of a fist-fight, one in which he feels Logan Paul underperformed:
”He (Logan Paul) looked worse. He was running the whole time, you know? I wanted to fight; he was running, so I didn’t really get the satisfaction I needed” – said Danis.
Dillon Danis’ claims do not reflect what many people saw in the fight. The gameplan from the MMA fighter was defensive in nature in the first couple of rounds as Paul unloaded shots. It appeared as though Danis was trying to tire out his opponent with a view to increasing his own output in the later rounds to capitalize on a tiring Logan Paul. Such increase never came as Danis continued the next four rounds with his hands held high and failing to engage with the YouTuber turned WWE star. In fact, Danis only landed nine punches in six rounds during the co-main event on Saturday night’s card.
Danis reveals pay-per-view numbers, earnings
In Danis’ defense, he never claimed to be a boxer. He did claim, on more than one occasion, that he would knock Logan Paul out with ease. People bought into this narrative, 1.3 million in total, if the reported pay-per-view buys are accurate. Most of the 1.3 million will have felt the fight was a disappointment as it was almost a non-event besides the final stages, where it descended into chaos following Danis’ attempts to, unsuccessfully, take Logan Paul down to the ground. More carnage followed as Danis swung a punch at security post the final bell.
Revealing to Piers Morgan that his fight with Logan Paul earned Dillon Danis north of seven figures – the most he has ever earned from a single fight – it appears as if the Jiu-Jitsu World Champion intends to maximize his earnings in the future. He told Morgan that MMA doesn’t generally pay well but despite this, he intends on signing with the UFC in the near future. Danis’ comments will not go down well with Scott Coker, the CEO of Bellator, as he is currently signed to the organization. This will prohibit Danis from fighting in the UFC unless an agreement can be made from both parties to release Danis from his contract.
Fighting Logan Paul in MMA
Morgan asked whether there would be a possibility of Danis and Paul fighting in MMA following their boxing match. Danis is really keen on the idea as he views it as a real fight, whereas boxing is just ‘half a fight’ due to only being able to punch and being forbidden to use kicks, grappling, and submissions. If the pair were to fight in the octagon, Danis was very assured when giving his thoughts on how such a fight would go.
”He (Logan Paul) knows that I would strangle him unconscious within thirty seconds in a real fight. That’s why he (Paul) didn’t do the real fight. In MMA, the bag (amount of money) was bigger than [for] the boxing bag; he turned that down. He wouldn’t last more than a minute. I would play with him. I could take him down, mount him, and slap him around. It would be embarrassing [for Paul] actually. It would be so fun.”
A match between the pair under the ruleset of MMA is highly unlikely. Danis claims that Logan Paul agreed to a bout with a handshake, but how meaningful that was, we’ll have to see.
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