Dillon Danis believes he has what it takes to become the first man to submit Jon Jones.
Dillon Danis is at it again.
Fresh off his first-round submission win over Max Humphrey at Bellator 222, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu specialist has called for a fight with reigning UFC light heavyweight champion and pound-for-pound phenom Jon Jones.
Danis, who competes at 175 lbs., believes he would submit ‘Bones’ despite being at a considerable height and weight disadvantage.
“I offered to do a grappling match with him,” Danis said in a recent interview with ESPN (transcript via BJPenn.com’s Tom Taylor). “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.”
“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
“Why not? I come from jiu jitsu where we fight the biggest guys,” continued. “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.”
There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and Danis, who trains with former UFC two-division champ Conor McGregor at SBG Ireland, may be bordering on delusional levels of arrogance. Jones, who could quite easily compete at heavyweight, is widely considered the most skilled and dangerous fighter in the world. The multiple-time champ holds wins over the likes of Daniel Cormier, Alexander Gustafsson, Shogun Rua, Vitor Belfort, and Rashad Evans and, despite multiple failed drug tests, is still recognized as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the world in the eyes of many MMA fans.
Jones is scheduled to defend his light heavyweight title against Thiago Santos at next month’s UFC 239 PPV at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.