Dillon Danis reveals UFC scrapped plan for him to appear on The Ultimate Fighter: ‘It was f*cking annoying’
Newly-minted GFL signing, Dillon Danis has revealed he was initially planned to feature on The Ultimate Fighter before a potential move to the UFC, before the promotion’s Chief Business Officer, Hunter Campbell shut down the idea of the New Jersey native competing.
Danis, a former Bellator MMA welterweight prospect, is set to make his return to action in mixed martial arts in May, taking on former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson in the pair’s first respective outings with the Global Fight League.
Sidelined from combat sports since a 2023 professional boxing match with Logan Paul, Danis is set to feature at the end of this month in his sophomore trip to the ring, taking on the Ohio native’s business partner, controversial YouTuber and musician, KSI.
Dillon Danis reveals failed route to the UFC through The Ultimate Fighter
However, planning a potential route to the UFC in years gone by, Danis claimed he was contacted at UFC 295 whilst in attendance about a potential Octagon landing — ultimately to no avail.
“I wanted to go to the UFC, that was the plan.” Dillon Danis told Ariel Helwani for Uncrowned during an interview. “So basically, we never got to Dana [White]… I went to the UFC for (Alex) Pereira [vs. Jiri Prochazka 1], I saw the matchmaker, Mick Maynard. He came to me and said ‘We saw the pop in the crowd for you, we want to sign you’. I was like, okay, he can’t say that and not mean it…”
However, according to the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace, the aforenoted, Campbell put the kibosh on his addition to The Ultimate Fighter, citing concerns over the “trouble” he would cause.
I was like, alright, we’re in. We were talking to Hunter [Campbell], and he was just like, he’s going to make trouble and we don’t want that. He’s too controversial… So, The Ultimate Fighter was coming up. This is the one, this is the one that’s DC [and Chael], that would’ve been pure cinema… They were like, no, we don’t want to do it. 1oo% [I was serious], would’ve been the biggest numbers they’ve ever had…”
“[Hunter] was just like, he’s going to go into the house, make the most trouble and not fight.” Dillon Danis concluded. “It’s the same thing that everyone says. It was so f*cking annoying.”
