Dillon Danis breaks his silence on his recent viral altercation with a bouncer that led to his arrest.
Late last month, Bellator welterweight Dillon Danis went viral after a video of him being restrained and arrested outside a New Jersey bar made the rounds online. A few days later, a new clip surfaced showing the Marcelo Garcia black belt getting choked out by one of the club’s bouncers.
A week after the incident, “Chance” the bouncer spoke up and claimed that Danis tried to pass off a Google image as an ID to enter the establishment.
Now, Danis is telling his side of the story. During Monday’s episode of the MMA Hour, he did admit to not having ID on him at the time. But according to his account, Chance was the real instigator of the incident.
“This happens in Jersey a lot with me, and it’s fine. It is what it is,” he said. “He starts kind of, like, being confrontational. Whatever, you know. And he’s like, ‘Yo, you have your ID?’ I was, like, ‘Bro, listen. I’ve been taking pictures all night. You know, like, when you wear a fit suit and you have your wallet in your pocket? It doesn’t look good. You know, for pictures, like a big square thing in your pocket.
“So I was, like, ‘Bro, listen. I’m not gonna lie. I’m here, my best friend’s getting married. We’re coming in for one drink.’ And the funny thing is that he’s saying I Googled myself. I was just, like, ‘Yo, this is my age.’
“I showed him my passport. I showed him a vaccination card. I was, like, ‘Bro listen. I just don’t have my wallet on me because we’re taking pictures all day at the wedding, I’m at a wedding. I was in a suit, no pockets or anything.’
In his statement, Chance claimed to not recognize Danis which he said “agitated” the 28-year-old fighter. Danis, however, said otherwise.
“He was like, ‘Oh f—k, you think you can do whatever you want? I know who you are.’ I’m like, ‘Bro, come on. There’s no point for this. I’m gonna have one drink with my friend and we’re leaving.’ And he keeps going, he keeps going. And then a bunch of them keep going.
“Now, it’s becoming a thing. I’m not allowed to move, so I’m standing on the Boardwalk. I would’ve left, but when you’re in those places, you can’t call an Uber. You call Uber, it takes at least an hour to come. So I’m standing there, I’m not allowed to walk ‘cause I don’t have the crutches. I’m standing there, and these guys were getting confrontational. I’m like, ‘Oh f—k.’
“So now, they start talking shit to my friends and everybody. And I wasn’t with any fighters, I was with my brother and a couple of guys there, just normal guys at the wedding.”
At this point, Danis claimed he was being provoked by security, along with nine other individuals from inside the bar.
“Usually, in the city, I have security. I always have someone with me,” he said. “But you know, I’m at a wedding. I’m having a good time, so I was like, ‘this is not the time to fight. My best friend just got married. I’m in a good mood, I’m not trying to get girls, whatever. I’m chilling.
“So I was, like, ‘there’s no point for this.’ And these guys are like, so egotistical. They’re just like, trying to fight me, and I’m ‘whatever.’
“So they circle me, and I’m like, ‘Just no one touch me. And we won’t have a problem. I’m not allowed to move, I’m not on crutches.’ And this one guy, he keeps tapping me in my head. And he’s like, ‘Yo, what happens if I do touch you?’ I was like, ‘Oh, this f—ng guy, bro.’ I was like, ‘bro, stop it.’ I tell him, ‘please, don’t do that.’
“And he goes, ‘OK, I’mma do it again.’ And he starts tapping me on the forehead. And then he’s like, ‘What happens if I do touch you? What are you gonna do about it?’ I was like, ‘Alright. It’s on.’”
Around this time, Danis says the “undercover cops” that were in the vicinity also intervened.
“Two of them were holding my arms and I’m trying to hit the guy. And they were all trying to tackle me. Two guys were trying to take me down, like a double-leg. And I have a brace on, they can’t take me down,” he recalled.
“Two guys were holding my arms. And then that dude just jumped on my back and they were like, ‘Yo, you’re under arrest. Stop fighting’ And I was like, ‘OK, I’m good.’ I’m not gonna fight a cop. I’m not stupid.”
Danis also says that Chance is “under investigation” and “might go to jail” for impersonating an officer.
“If you watch that video… I’m doing jiu-jitsu, why do I have my arms in the air? The guy’s telling me he’s a police officer,” he said. “I was like, ‘OK, brother. I’m good. I’m done.’
“These guys are trying to take me down. They were gonna get me down and this freaking 400-pound freaking fat slob jumps on my back and I’m on one leg.
“And now he’s walking around like this big, hard man and shit like that. He’s in trouble for impersonating an officer, like a whole thing. He’s going to court.
“He’s under investigation. He might go to jail. So it is what it is. And the crazy thing about that guy is that guy wasn’t involved in any of this.”
Danis adds that he only spent 20 minutes in jail and that he was released immediately because “the cops were fans.” Nonetheless, he was charged with disorderly conduct and is due for a court date on October 19.