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After more than six years without an MMA fight, Dillon Danis had a successful return Saturday.
At Misfits Boxing 22, Danis (3-0) submitted Warren Spencer (0-1), who was making his pro MMA debut, just 15 seconds into the fight. Danis hadn’t fought in MMA since a Bellator 222 submission win in June 2019.
Danis, a high-level jiu-jitsu world champion, never has been far from combat sports headlines even if he hasn’t been in MMA fights. As a polarizing name in the sport, he’d no doubt have eyeballs on him if he made his way to the UFC.
But one big name doesn’t think that ever will happen. Din Thomas, a former fighter, current coach and UFC broadcast analyst, thinks Danis’ grappling skills only will get him so far, and questions his dedication as the main reason he’s not likely to get a chance to show his chops at the elite level.
“He’s very good at jiu-jitsu. At MMA, no one knows how good he is,” Thomas told MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn on “The Bohnfire” podcast. “… I’m not sure we’ll ever get to see him at a high level. I don’t think he has the level of professionalism to fight at a high UFC level – to show up to the UFC on fight week and fight a really good guy. I don’t think he has the level of professionalism to do that.”
After Danis got out of the final two bouts of his Bellator contract in 2023, he was on record saying he’d rather retire from MMA than have his next MMA move be somewhere other than the UFC. At 2-0 at the time, though, that goal didn’t come to fruition.
Danis relented on the UFC-or-bust promise when the Global Fight League came calling with delusions of grandeur, as did dozens of other big-name fighters. But the GFL essentially went full-on Fyre Festival, and Danis’ MMA comeback was on hold – until Misfits Boxing called to say it wanted to have an MMA division.
Thomas thinks Danis, 32, can have an MMA career – just doubts the New Yorker ever will find his way to the UFC.
“To fight a low-level guy on a Misfits card that everybody’s just kind of tuning in and he can make some money this way? It’s easy to do that. It’s easy to do that,” Thomas said. “But to show up to the UFC – I know that might be his goal, ultimately – it takes a completely different level of professionalism, and I don’t know that he has that.”
Check out Thomas’ full interview in the video above.
