Dillon Danis was born in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, on August 22, 1993. He was born to an Armenian mother.
Dillon Danis attended Parsippany Hills High School. As a freshman, he began wrestling there even though he “couldn’t do one pushup.”
After getting into a brawl at school when he was 15, he began learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Danis began travelling to Marcelo Garcia’s school in New York when he was 17 years old. At age 19, he finally relocated there to aggressively pursue a career in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
When he was 21 years old, he received his black belt as a result of wins at several high-level tournaments.
At Metamoris 6, Danis squared off against UFC veteran Joe Lauzon. The grappling event took place on May 9, 2015. Danis ended up winning the match via D’arce.
When UFC icon Conor McGregor recruited Danis to join his training camp as a coach and training partner before his rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 202, Danis gained fame in the mixed martial arts world.
He would keep working with Conor and aid in his training for the match with Khabib Nurmagomedov. Marcelo Garcia cut Danis off from his school because of the way the media had portrayed him before the altercation with Diaz.
At Polaris Pro Grappling 4 in October 2016, Danis squared off against Jackson Sousa. With an inside heel hook, Danis ended up winning the match.
He also competed in Polaris 5 at catchweight in 2017. This is where he was defeated by Garry Tonon in a judge’s decision.
At Bellator 198 in 2018, Danis was slated to face Kyle Walker in his MMA debut. In the first round of the match, he won with a toe hold.
Danis was a member of Conor McGregor’s corner team during his match with Khabib Nurmagomedov. He got caught up in a brawl at UFC 229 after Khabib threw his mouthpiece at McGregor’s team after submitting him. Khabib then climbed the cage and looked to jump towards Danis.
Danis then punched Khabib, and a full-on brawl started. Danis was later punished for the event with a $7,500 fine and a 7-month suspension.
Dillon Danis with Fedor Emelianenko
Dillon Danis with Conor McGregor in 2018
Max Humphreys was Danis’ next opponent at Bellator 222 in 2019. Their catchweight match was 175 lbs. He ended up winning the match via first-round armbar submission.
Dillon Danis said that he still has two bouts remaining on his Bellator contract and that he plans to finish them both in 2023.
Dillon Danis with Conor McGregor in 2020
Danis appeared at the MF & DAZN: X Series 003 press event in November 2021. He challenged British YouTuber KSI. On November 19 during the broadcast, it was revealed that Danis will compete against KSI in an exhibition match on January 14, 2023. It will take place at Wembley Arena in London, England. However, Danis pulled out of the bout on January 4.
In September 2021, Danis was taken into custody after getting into a brawl with a bouncer at a New Jersey nightclub. Danis subsequently claimed that the nightclub’s bouncer and bartenders were to blame for the brawl and that the police had let him go after around twenty minutes.
Danis was accused of receiving money to advertise cryptocurrencies and NFT frauds to his social media followers in February 2023. He was exposed by Stephen Findeisen (aka Coffeezilla), a YouTuber well-known for exposing cryptocurrency scams.
Findeisen’s team paid Danis $1,000 to promote a fake NFT project on Twitter. Danis has not yet responded to the accusations.
