‘Good luck. You’re going to have your hands full, young man.’
Apart from his routine Twitter dealings, Dillon Danis hasn’t been active as a prizefighter since 2018, when he last competed inside the Bellator cage. But after stirring up a beef with YouTuber/rapper KSI, the two are now headlining a boxing match under DAZN PPV on January 14.
Bellator CEO Scott Coker was initially disappointed by the booking of the said bout, stating they ‘wanted to develop’ Danis because ‘he had a lot of potential.’ But during this past weekend’s Bellator 289 post-event presser, Coker showed his full support.
“Dillon wants to go take this boxing fight and I said, ‘Good luck. You’re going to have your hands full, young man,’” Coker said (quotes via MMA Fighting).
Despite nearly three and a half years of inactivity, Coker says Danis (2-0 in MMA) is still part of the Bellator roster. He also agreed to the KSI bout because he refuses to “be that promoter.”
“He’s still under contract, but we’ve been trying to get him to fight for a long time and he saw an opportunity here with KSI so I wish him luck. It’s a good deal for him.
“I don’t want to hold him back and be that promoter, so we said, ‘Go ahead. You guys can work it out’ and we’re going to see what happens in that fight.”
Coker’s statement is likely an indirect jab at UFC president Dana White, who supposedly vetoed a charity boxing match between Georges St-Pierre and Oscar De La Hoya, according to the latter.
KSI vs. Danis takes place at the Wembley Arena in London.