Last weekend, on the main card of Bellator 222, Dillon Danis improved to 2-0 in MMA with a submission victory over Max Humphrey. Shortly after this sophomore win, the Brazilian jiu jitsu specialist and Conor McGregor stablemate made yet another callout of reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Speaking on Monday’s edition of Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, Danis made a bold prediction for a potential fight with the light heavyweight legend. Despite the fact that he would be surrendering roughly 30 pounds of weight to Jones, and quite a bit of height and length, Danis is confident confident he could earn the tap if he attacked the UFC champ’s legs.
"If I did an Imanari roll, I'd take his leg home with me."@dillondanis predicts how he sees a fight with Jon Jones going (via @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/YQzAfoUsuX
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 17, 2019
“I offered to do a grappling match with him,” Dillon Danis said. “If we fought in MMA, I feel like, from his stance and how tall he is, if I did an Imanari roll I would take his leg home with me.
“Why not? I come from jiu jitsu where we fight the biggest guys,” he added when asked why he believed he could overcome the size disadvantage. “I’ve fought guys that are like 300 pounds in jiu jitsu. You have to do it. I fought seven of them in the same day. So I don’t know man, I’m a different kind of martial artist. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid, training with anybody and anywhere.”
If Dillon Danis did manage to defeat Jon Jones, he’d succeed where stars like Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Alexander Gustafsson, Glover Teixeira, Ovince Saint Preux, Daniel Cormier, and Anthony Smith have failed. Yet while the odds would surely be stacked against him in this prospective matchup, there is no questioning his confidence.
How do you think Dillon Danis would fair against Jon Jones?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 6/17/2019.