Dillon Danis is happy to bide his time in his bid to emulate teammate Conor McGregor and become an MMA superstar.
SBG man Danis is a jiu-jitsu world champion who has transitioned to MMA and will take on Max Humphrey on Friday at Bellator 222.
It will be Danis' second professional MMA fight but his profile has probably grown most from being a regular training partner of McGregor.
The American was part of McGregor's camp for his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov last October.
And undefeated Russian Nurmagomedov jumped off the octagon to attack Danis, who he claims was goading him throughout the contest, in the post-fight brawl that marred UFC 229.
Danis though wants to forge his own path in the fight game and doesn't mind taking the long road.
He said: “I’ve seen guys, they start off, and they go too fast. The people that care about you will give you the best advice.
"Obviously I weigh up what I want to do, weigh up what my coach wants to do, and we go from there.
"I feel like having a good team around you is very important, because you’ve seen guys without good teams and you see one, two fights, and they’re gone, or you don’t really hear about them anymore.
“Even with (Aaron) Pico, I think this is a tough fight to come back from from a knockout. How old is he? 23? Getting knocked out, dropping his first fight is not good for your brain.
"He has what? Ten, 15 years of fighting left? You shouldn’t be getting caught and put to sleep like that and keep fighting.
“I don’t know him, I have nothing against him. I’m just saying you need to be smart with MMA. MMA is not wresting, it’s not jiu-jitsu, it’s a different animal. You’ve got to be smart, and you’ve got to be tuned into everything.”
Danis, talking to MMA Junkie, sees himself on another level to current Bellator champs Rory MacDonald and Darrion Caldwell, and claims it's only a matter of time he takes their crowns.
“I see what I want,” Danis said. “I don’t know, it’s weird for me. I knew I could beat these guys five years ago. I’ve been training with guys.
"I don’t know. I just know what I’m destined for. That’s why people are like, ‘How can you deal with this hate?’ I know what I’m going to do. So f*** what everyone thinks, really.
“I’m a different level than everybody. I feel like there’s no one that can even compare to me and my mind in the game.
"That will show. I’m going to take that experience with me and keep going up until one day I’m going to fight for that belt, and I’m going to be like, ‘I’ve seen everything.'”
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