Dillon Danis doesn’t think much of the current UFC roster, especially middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev.
The undefeated Chimaev claimed his first title with a lopsided decision win over Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319 and awaits his first challenger, with a key matchup between Reinier de Ridder and Brendan Allen taking place next week at UFC Vancouver and top contender Nassourdine Imavov waiting in the wings. Danis believes he has a better chance than all of them of handing Chimaev his first loss.
During a recent appearance on Demetrious Johnson’s MightyCast, Danis weighed his options coming off of a quick submission win at Misfits Boxing 22—Danis’s first MMA fight in over six years—and he’s confident he’d be an immediate championship contender in UFC if given the opportunity.
“Do I go to the UFC?” Danis said. “I could beat Islam [Makhachev]. I could beat Jon Jones. I could beat all these guys. Who’s the ‘85 champ? I don’t even know. … I would bet you every money in my bank account against your bank account that I would beat his ass.”
Danis, an accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor, doesn’t have many MMA credentials to speak of. His August win over Warren Spencer made him Misfit Boxing’s inaugural light heavyweight champion, but that marked just the third fight of Danis’s MMA career.
Chimaev, on the other hand, is 15-0 with a dozen wins coming by way of knockout or submission. Five of his nine UFC wins have come in the first round, including a violent face crank of former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. Outside of a few close calls against Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman, Chimaev has rarely been tested.
It’s the Burn’s fight Danis points to as evidence that he has the secret to defeat Chimaev.
“Look at ‘Durinho,’ the way that he fought Khamzat is the way that you beat him,” Danis said. “You have to have good jiu-jitsu. You can’t turtle and then go against the fence or you’re going to get sat there all day. You have to play guard against him and no one in the division has a good guard. The only person that has a chance is [de Ridder] because he has good jiu-jitsu. But it would be an easy fight for me. I would submit him off my back, easily.”
Danis needed just 15 seconds to defeat Spencer and he’s itching to return to action. According to the New Jersey native, he already has a fight lined up, but Misfits Boxing is yet to announce it.
If by some chance in the near future the UFC required his services, Danis is ready to take that call.
“I think it’s December,” Danis said of his potential next fight. “I want to fight tomorrow. I’m ready to fight, I didn’t take any damage. I wish I could fight someone on the street or some shit. I want to fight so bad, I’m ready to go. I’m so pumped up. But if UFC comes around and they’re like, ‘Hey listen, we’ll give you nice easy layup like Kevin Holland’ or something, I’ll do it. It depends, we’ll see where negotiations go right now.”
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