Dillon Danis won’t be returning to action in January after all.
His upcoming opponent KSI announced via his management that Danis has pulled out of their upcoming boxing bout that was scheduled for Jan. 14 at Wembley Arena in London. KSI’s manager Mams Taylor has put the onus on Danis, claiming that Danis’s team told him that the Bellator fighter is facing a number of issues that forced his withdrawal.
“The real reason is, from what they said to me, is that he’s underprepared,” Taylor said. “He has no coach. He might be struggling with weight even though there’s no rehydration. He has not been able to find a team that’s going to support him to bring him into the fight and obviously he’s got some other issues I think.
“It’s very sad and unfortunate because he didn’t reciprocate the respect that we’ve given him. He’s clearly embarrassed that he’s in this position and - look, who knows what he’s going to come out with and say, but I’m disappointed because I never thought that someone who cares about his reputation as much as he does or what people think of him, I didn’t think that this would be something despite many people saying the opposite, that he’s not going to show up to the fight. They were right.”
MMA Fighting reached out to a public relations official for Misfits Boxing, who confirmed that the bout is off and that a new opponent is expected to be announced Wednesday. KSI, a YouTube star-turned-boxer, also addressed the situation briefly via Twitter.
2 fights, 2 pullouts. Kmt
— ksi (@KSI) January 4, 2023
The show must go on. I’m still fighting January 14th
— ksi (@KSI) January 4, 2023
According to Taylor, he and Danis were in dispute over supposed rehydration clauses in the bout agreement, and eventually communications broke down with Danis no longer replying to his messages. Taylor claims that they removed a rehydration clause to ensure that Danis would remain in the fight, but that the parties still could not come to an agreement.
Taylor added that there were signs that Danis would not show up for fight night.
“At the end of the day as a fighter, you’re contracted to fight, you have a responsibility to the promotion, to Misfits, to DAZN, to KSI, his opponent, to all of us who have been preparing, KSI’s been training really hard.
“[Danis] didn’t show up to the press conference. That was a red flag. Again, because of our hesitation and knowing that there is a chance that all the rumors are true that he just doesn’t fight, that he just wants to be on social media. We were prepared for this situation this time.”
Danis has not fought since June 2019 at Bellator 222, where he defeated Max Humphrey via first-round submission to improve to 2-0 as an MMA fighter.