NEW YORK – Dillon Danis said he’s got no issues fighting at welterweight. Eventually, he predicts he’ll dominate one division lower at lightweight.
That said, the grappling standout is more than happy to continue beating opponents in his own weight class, where he tapped Max Humphrey at Bellator 222.
“I kind of like doing the Dillon Danis weight,” Danis (2-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) told reporters after his first-round win on Friday at Madison Square Garden. “I kind of want all the guys to come fight me.
“So if I can do it, why not? Make my own weight division. Everybody wants to do it, but they can’t.”
Danis competed between 170 pounds and “absolute” open-weight as a jiu-jitsu competitor. But as an MMA fighter, he’s clocking in at 175 pounds, the catchweight he’s been assigned so far.
Now 2-0 in the Bellator cage, Danis’ confidence continues to swell.
“That guy had almost 30 fights,” Danis told MMA Junkie. “People like to get mad at me for this and that, but that guy had almost 30 fights, and I only had two fights, and never fought amateur. Everybody will see.”
Humphrey (3-3 MMA, 0-1 BMMA), in fact, had five pro and 12 amateur bouts, according to official ABC records-keeper MMA.com. But even with more than eight times Danis’ experience, he wasn’t remotely on the same level.
Bellator chief Scott Coker chuckles at Danis’ brash confidence. But he also believes in the talent that backs up the talk.
“I think for Dylan, we would like to get him back in as soon as he’s healthy and ready to go,” Coker said. “Dylan has got a great career ahead of him. He’s proved to us that he can do it, and I think it’s just frequency and repetition that will take him to the next level.”
Danis already considers himself there, and he claims he’ll fight anyone at any weight to prove that.
“I don’t even care about the weight classes,” he said. “I said I would fight Ryan Bader. I came from jiu-jitsu, where you fight anybody seven times a day. Size doesn’t matter.”
For complete coverage of Bellator 222, check out the MMA Events section of the site.
