Dillon Danis has revealed the UFC wanted to sign him, but eventually decided against the idea.
Danis makes his return to MMA for the first time in six years this May when he fights ex-UFC star Tony Ferguson.
The bout takes place in MMA’s newest promotion, the Global Fight League, who have also added the likes of former UFC champions Tyron Woodley and Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua to their roster.
Danis has fought just two professional MMA bouts, but is a black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu.
He has also entered the world of boxing having fought and lost to Logan Paul in October 2023.
Danis is also set to square off against Paul’s business partner KSI before fighting Ferguson, but has revealed his intentions to have a successful future in MMA.
“I wanted to do it with the UFC,” Danis told Ariel Helwani when revealing what his plan was for 2024.
“Basically, we never got to Dana. Dana, apparently, is the kind of guy to be like: ‘Yes, we’re going to sign you 100 per cent and then Hunter [Campbell] comes in.
“I went to UFC 309 right after the Logan fight and saw Nick Maynard (UFC matchmaker).
“He came to me and said: ‘We saw the pop from the crowd for you and we were going to sign you.’
“I was like: ‘You can’t say that and not mean it, are you bulls****ing me. He was like: ‘No, this reaction from the crowd…’
“Then it came down talking to Hunter and Hunter was basically like: ‘Nah, this guy just causes too much trouble and we don’t want that. He’s too controversial’.
“He said,’I need to prove myself in MMA. I’m too much of a liability, if I hit someone on stage.’
“So it came down to [them saying]: ‘We want you to fight, to prove you’re an MMA fighter’. So then The Ultimate Fighter was coming up and I said, ‘put me on The Ultimate Fighter’.”
Danis went on to say that he tried to convince UFC matchmakers to put him in this year’s season of the reality TV series with UFC legends Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen as coaches.
However, he claims the bosses in MMA’s biggest league weren’t fans of the idea.
“That would have been pure cinema,” Danis added.
The 31-year-old New Jersey native then said he’d be good to join the UFC after ‘we beat Tony’.
He added that he has signed a three-fight deal with the GFL, but doesn’t feel like he needs to fulfil them.
Danis is renowned for running his mouth in public ahead of his various combat sports endeavours.
Things got so bad before his boxing match with Paul that the latter is currently suing Danis for comments made towards his fiancee Nina Agdal.
Danis now steps foot into the ring with YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI on March 29 in Manchester.
The pair stood toe-to-toe for the first time at the beginning of this month at their press conference in London and KSI celebrated the occasion by slapping Danis with a pancake when they faced off.
The Briton insisted Danis was the last resort after contacting a whole host of former UFC fighters.
“I know I’m not even supposed to say this, but f*** it, bro: Dillon Danis wasn’t even my fourth choice,” he said.
“We went to Nate Diaz, he said no. We went to Donald Cerrone, he said no. We went to Tony Ferguson, he said no.”
