Former UFC Lightweight Champion “The Notorious” Conor McGregor may be in some hot water — with the law, at least — after he attacked a bus load of fighters before UFC 223, but his friend and BJJ training partner/teacher Dillon Danis has faith that he’ll make it through and fight once again.
“I can’t talk about any of that [Conor’s attacks on the UFC 223 bus] — it’s still under investigation — but it didn’t put any damper on me. … I don’t find it a distraction at all,” Danis told the Chicago Tribune. “He’ll deal with it. He’ll get past it and then go back to his championship-level fighting.”
Danis has good reason to be confident. As I argued in a previous article, Conor is the only star the UFC has, and firing him would hurt them more than it hurts him. After all, Conor McGregor has not even reached his thirtieth birthday yet, and he is already one of Ireland’s richest people.
UFC President Dana White seems to understand this. Though he originally said he was “disgusted” with McGregor’s actions, he changed his tune only days later, saying that his relationship with Conor was “good.”
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Danis is just as confident that he’ll make it through his upcoming match against Kyle Walker this Saturday at Bellator 198, set to go down at the Allstate Arena in Chicago.
Danis told the Tribune:
There is no opponent. It will be the ‘Dillon Danis Show,’ that’s what I feel. I don’t feel like he’s going to bring anything to the table. I will go out there and I will dominate him.
Again, Dillon may have a good reason to be confident. Walker has lost his last two matches via submission, showing that he may have a weakness in terms of his ground game.
And that’s the last type of weakness you want when you’re taking on a multiple-time IBJJF Champion!
