Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) black belt Dillion Danis is currently helping Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight kingpin Conor McGregor train for his Nate Diaz rematch at the upcoming UFC 202 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which takes next month in Las Vegas, Nevada.
And since Danis is the guy who actually rolls with “Notorious” during training camp — and not the stupid Internet fanboys (like me) — he’s the one most qualified to comment on the Irishman’s “amazing” ground game. That’s according to his conversation with Flo Grappling.
Transcribed by Bloody Elbow:
“It’s unfair. Conor is amazing on the ground. One submission loss doesn’t mean anything. If you go to a jiu-jitsu tournament and a guy loses by submission you’re gonna say ‘ok that guy sucks’? It’s bullshit man. Conor is a great fighter, he’s got great jiu-jitsu. I’m having a blast here. I’m learning from him and he’s learning from me. It’s a great combo. It’s so easy to see why this guy is a champion. If you come here, you can see everything that he kinda got and he achieved, he deserves. A lot of guys you usually train with, at the end of the class, they’re tired. They say get a partner, and the guy usually gets the easier guy in the room, someone that’s not going to push them. Conor always goes for the best guy in the room. In jiu jitsu, he always calls me out. I love it. He’s the guy who always wants to go and be the best.”
Wanting and achieving are two very different things.
McGregor opted to leave his featherweight title behind to try his luck in higher weight classes. Unfortunately, the result was a second-round submission loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196, which marked the third submission defeat of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career.
If he wants to be known as “amazing” on the ground, despite just one submission win across 17 victories, perhaps McGregor can prove it by submitting Diaz at UFC 202?
Can’t wait to see the props on that.