Grappling phenom Gordon Ryan continued his winning ways earlier this week by overcoming the formidable Nick Rodriguez at the Fight Pass Invitational 3 event on UFC Fight Pass. Ryan was originally booked to compete against Brazilian wunderkind Vinny Magalhaes but a last-minute medical issue torpedoed the contest, prompting Rodriguez to step up on super short notice.
After the match, which Ryan won via fastest escape, the jiu-jitsu “King” fielded questions from the combat sports media. One of the topics included former Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) rival Dillon Danis, who went on to make a name for himself by riding the coattails of UFC megastar Conor McGregor.
“He’s a master at staying relevant without actually doing anything, it’s incredible,” Ryan said after his match. “I’ve offered him like 10-to-1 odds, I’ve offered him to compete against Luke for 2-to-1 odds, I’ve offered him every kind of match and he’ll post the 2017 ADCC match every now and then and be like, ‘See, I beat the best guy in the world.’ Hopefully he’s getting paid. He actually randomly messages me on Instagram all the time at like 2am, he’s gotta be like drunk or whatever. He sent like a clip the other day of Chael Sonnen [saying] ‘Dillon Danis is the real deal, he went toe-to-toe with Gordon in 2017 and Gordon won the world championships’ — like out of nowhere, completely unsolicited.”
Ryan, who is 153-9 with 128 submissions to his credit, won their 2017 ADCC showdown by referee’s decision but Danis continues to harass him on social media. It should be noted that Danis, who is scheduled to box YouTube personality KSI in January, has a grappling record of 18-16 and has not competed since coming up short at ADCC back in 2017.
“I’m like, ‘Great Dillon, I hope you’re getting paid for this.’ He’s like, ‘I run the game kid, don’t forget this.’ I’m like okay, if it doesn’t work out and you don’t make that much money, I have tons of cars you can clean those for me,” Gordon continued. “I have like five cars to clean and if you want to clean those I’ll give you thirty bucks a week or something for those. And he never responded. Hopefully he’s making a lot of money. Hopefully he doesn’t end up homeless. He manages to stay relevant but it’s hard to stay relevant when you don’t compete.”
Danis, two years older than Ryan at 29, is currently under contract with Bellator MMA and has two professional mixed martial arts (MMA) wins to his credit but has not competed in over three years and as of this writing, has no plans to return to cage fighting anytime soon, or at least until his KSI cash runs out somewhere down the road.