Dillon Danis claims he’s paying Bellator for the right to go box KSI.
On Jan. 14, Danis is set to make his long-awaited return to combat sports when he faces YouTube personality KSI in a boxing match. He is a former BJJ prospect, nascent MMA fighter who has been out of action for more than three years due to injuries. Now he returns to the squared circle. According to him, he’s making a king’s ransom to do so.
“I’m still the most relevant at 2-0, and I’m about to make the biggest bag out of anybody in MMA, active,” Danis told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. Although [how much], is not what I’m going to call it, it’s more than anyone. Once it comes out, then you can see. You’ll see it. It will come out.
“I’m 2-0 and I’m about to make more money than any guy in MMA right now,” Danis continued later. “100 percent… OK, Izzy [Israel Adesanya], because he gets the pay-per-view and things like that, it actually might be close to Izzy, and Conor’s not fighting right now. I’m telling you. I saw what Paulo [Costa] was supposed to make against [Robert] Whittaker [$70,000 show, $70,000 win], and that’s what I was getting in my first fight for Bellator. That’s nothing. It’s embarrassing. I got more than that in my first fight in Bellator.”
Danis didn’t stop there. He claimed he was making more than UFC fighters, but he also said he is likely spending more because he paid Bellator to get the rights to fight KSI.
“I’m not allowed to discuss how that was done, as Showtime and DAZN were rivals so I had pay a large fee,” Danis stated. It’s quite a sum. What I’m paying Coker to let me fight is more than probably every UFC [fighter makes].
“I’m still with them. It would be different if I was with Showtime, because Showtime, they have a deal with them.”
A Bellator official declined comment when reached by MMA Fighting about Danis’ remarks on Wednesday. When the fight was announced, Scott Coker, Bellator’s CEO, confirmed that Danis would be fighting. He said he didn’t want “to hold him back from the opportunity.” The exec offered Danis good luck, saying he would “have your hands full” with KSI. Some took that statement as a sign of frustration from Coker with his would-be star, and Danis doesn’t deny it.
“He would like me to return to MMA. His star,” Danis stated. “Obviously there’s no one in Bellator that’s going to bring that kind of noise. Who brings that much hype?”
” I just think that this guy is mad,” Danis said.
“I just think that he’s mad,” Danis said.
According to Danis, KSI wasn’t even his first choice for a boxing opponent. “El Jefe” said originally he was supposed to fight Logan Paul to set up an eventual fight with Jake Paul, but after Logan injured his knee while wrestling for WWE, they had to pivot to KSI.
” I was meant to fight Logan,” Danis stated. Logan was signed completely. 100 percent signed, and we were going to announce it at that same date, so that same date we were going to announce me and Logan, and then he did that [wrestling] match with Roman Reigns and he blew his knee out, and then they were like, ‘Do you want to wait for Logan?’ I could’ve waited for Logan but he was like, ‘I don’t know about my knee, it could be six months,’ and I’m like, dude, I’ve been out long enough, I want to fight. So, I took KSI.
” Logan wanted more because there was more beef. We and the Pauls, but KSI also tastes good. I don’t give a s***, to be honest. I am a jiu jitsu man about to box for two million dollars.”
The Paul brothers, especially Jake, are in a long-running feud with Conor McGregor. Conor McGregor has been a friend of Danis’s on many occasions. KSI was once in a feud with Logan, and they have since been business partners.
If Danis manages to beat KSI, rebooking a boxing match with Logan Paul might be his next logical matchup. He believes this is what’s next.
“It was supposed to be guaranteed when I beat Logan,” Danis said. It was written in their contract. They wanted Jake. So I can imagine that they’re both going to be f****** begging me after this. Dude, I will hurt KSI badly. “They’re going see.”
Danis boxes KSI at MF & DAZN: X SEries 004 on Jan. 14, at Wembley Arena in London.
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/12/21/23521513/dillon-danis-claims-had-to-pay-bellator-a-hefty-fee-to-box-ksi-making-more-money-than-any-guy-in-mma?rand=96749
