Dana White hesitant to sign Dillon Danis to UFC deal due to off-cage behavior

It seems that UFC CEO Dana White is not thrilled with the antics of Dillon Danis.

White was recently asked about the possibility of Danis, who is currently a free agent, joining the UFC. Danis, who has not competed in MMA since June 2019, has expressed his desire to sign with the UFC.

While White did not completely dismiss the idea, he also did not seem too excited about it.

“I don’t know. Do you think he should be?” White said on a recent episode of the “Full Send Podcast.” I heard he just retired.”

White’s reservations about Danis stem from the controversy he tends to provoke, particularly the infamous UFC 229 post-fight brawl following the main event between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018. After Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor, he jumped the fence to attack Danis, who was in McGregor’s corner, sparking chaos in and around the cage. Nurmagomedov was not happy with some of Danis’ words in the lead-up to the fight.

“The other thing with him is, and I have no beef with the kid at all – I’ve probably said two words to him in my whole life. But every time he’s around, sh*t’s going down,” White said. “We can’t have that stuff going on here. A lot of people will see when guys get into it on stage, they’re like, ‘Oh, they must love this’ or whatever. No, we don’t love it.

“We don’t need that sh*t to sell fights. And basically what happens is when that goes down, the athletic commission goes crazy and people start getting fined and for us, it’s our job to keep that sh*t under control.. That’s why, when you see these other events and see these guys and everything breaks out like that, it’s a total, unprofessional clown show.”

White also mentioned Danis’ heated rivalry with Logan Paul ahead of their boxing match last month. Danis went after Paul’s fiancé, Nina Agdal, who ended up filing a lawsuit against him for sharing photos without her consent. Danis lost the exhibition match to Paul by disqualification.

In MMA, Danis holds a record of 2-0 in two appearances with Bellator, boasting a decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu background. He defeated Kyle Walker in April 2018 and Max Humphrey in June 2019, both by submission. Despite facing a serious knee injury, at 30, there is still time for Danis to regain his focus and make a comeback in MMA.

Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie