Michael Chandler doesn’t see the fun in Logan Paul vs. Dillon Danis.
Oct. 14, 2023, is set to be the expected return to combat sports action for once-Bellator prospect, Danis, who went 2-0 in mixed martial arts (MMA) before falling off the face of the Earth. Welcoming him back to the fight game is scheduled to be an also returning Paul, who last boxed against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a June 2021 exhibition match (watch highlights). The two will compete in a professional boxing bout under the Misfits Boxing banner in Manchester, England.
Danis’ old Bellator roster mate, Chandler — like the rest of the MMA community — is over Danis’ antics of initiating fights that will never happen and saying he’ll beat everyone under the sun from the comfort of social media. Danis was supposed to box as recently as Nov. 2022 against Olajide “KSI” Olatunji, but withdrew due to a lack of preparation. A few weeks before the fight, Danis publicly stated that he had been dealing with injuries over the past so many years, preventing him from returning to competition. Ultimately, Chandler doesn’t buy it.
“What’re we doing? Logan Paul just got booked to fight Dillon Danis in a boxing match,” Chandler said on his YouTube channel. “Now, we got the Paul brothers themselves. Absolute social media internet superstars. I get it. Everything they do, people pay attention. On the one hand, you’ve got Jake Paul who I believe is legitimizing himself as a pro boxer. Subsequently, you have Logan Paul who now has fought KSI and is now fighting Dillon Danis.
“This ticks me off for a couple different reasons,” he continued. “No. 1, Logan, I get it, you’re not exactly going the professional boxing route like Jake is. But to fight this guy, who I don’t even want to name anymore because I feel like he’s just been a troll and we keep giving him attention. We keep encouraging him with likes and tweets and headlines and fights like this. Why are we doing this? Why do we keep doing this?”
The answer to Chandler’s question is obvious and that’s for financial gain as neither has put any serious focus on their combat careers. Coincidentally, Paul, 28, has been the more active of the two and had more boxing matches than the former Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) star Danis and has also stayed busy by signing with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2022.
Chandler did make it a point to note that he’s not talking down upon Danis simply because of his Conor McGregor connection. He just doesn’t see the appeal of Danis’ schtick.
“This is absolutely a troll spectacle sensationalized entertainment type of a fight,” Chandler said. “There is absolutely zero boxing credentials and zero boxing talent on this [Danis] side of the picture, especially. I don’t even know the last time the dude fought was. I don’t even know the last time the dude signed his name to a contract and actually went through with said contract.
“I don’t even know what he does anymore aside from sit on his phone and tweet things, Instagram things,” he concluded.