Dillon Danis was apparently 'too much of a liability' to sign to the UFC.
Between boxing matches with Logan Paul and KSI, the controversial former Bellator star still wants to prove he's among the best in MMA, despite a green 2-0 record and not having fought since 2019.
Danis, 31, says he spoke with the UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard about potentially signing to the UFC back in 2023 when he was in NYC for UFC 295, a month after his high-profile boxing match loss against Paul.
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Unfortunately for Danis, those talks didn't get too far, with UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell not on board.
"I don't know like the exact words, I have all the messages, but basically [Campbell was] just saying that I'm gonna go in and make all this, hoo-hollering, not fight or something like that," Danis said on The Ariel Helwani Show.
"And he's saying like, I need to prove that I'm gonna fight in MMA 'cause I was just too much of a liability if I hit someone on stage or all this stuff. I'm like, 'At the end of the day, you guys want that, even though I'm not gonna do that.'"
"Cause like these sideshows are like kind of, they're known for being a circus and me doing that," Danis said of fighting influencers under the Misfits Boxing banner.
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Danis claims Campbell said they wanted him to first prove he's a legitimate MMA fighter - more than the personality who pulled out of a 2023 boxing match with KSI or went after Paul's wife Nina Agdal.
That's when Danis had the idea.
"'Put me on The Ultimate Fighter'," Danis told the UFC brass.
First aired in 2005, the UFC's reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter continues to this day, with Season 33 set to premiere in May. The UFC wouldn't go for it either.
"That would've been f****** pure cinema, right?" Danis said, with Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen as coaches on the current season. "Think about that. We're trying to bring it back on the entertainment side."
"And they were like, 'No, we don't wanna do it,'" Danis continued. "It would've been the best numbers they had. I think it would've been brilliant. I'm willing to show— fight 3-4 guys, whatever to get into the UFC."
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"Hunter was just like, 'No dude. Like he's gonna go into the house, make the most trouble and then off fight.' It's the same thing that he says. It was so f****** annoying. You would've made people actually watch."
The UFC has seen many characters come to life on TUF including viral street fighting legend Kimbo Slice on Season 10. Slice didn't win the show, but he was later signed to the UFC only a few fights into his pro MMA career.
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