Neiman Gracie spoke out to MMA Fighting about the fact that Dillon Danis backed out of a fight that was set to happen in June. Bellator arranged the fight between the undefeated Gracie, to be pit against Danis, who agreed from the get-go.
“They offered me the fight,” Gracie said. “I accepted the fight, he accepted the fight and now he said no. I never asked for the fight, but I say yes. But I understand. I know I’m a bad matchup for him. I know he’s just starting fighting and nobody wants to start their career 0-1. I wouldn’t take the fight neither.”
Gracie believes that Danis backed out from the MMA fight because of his status as a new fighter. According to Gracie, Danis does not want to start out with such as mismatched fight. Though this is a fight that made sense on many levels, including that the men are both from New York and trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, there is a history between them. Danis never showed up for the match against Gracie in 2015 at the IBJJF Pans jiu-jitsu tournament. Gracie says that Danis seems not to be able to follow through when he talks about fights.
Danis now says that Bellator never got a confirmation from him before setting up the match. Gracie thinks that this is an excuse for Danis to spin the details on social media in his favor.
