Conor McGregor has reacted to Dillon Danis’ MMA debut.
Last night (April 28), Danis took on Kyle Walker in the main card opener of Bellator 198. The action took place inside the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Danis emerged victorious via first-round submission.
Danis played a huge role in McGregor’s camp following the “Notorious” one’s first outing with Nate Diaz. McGregor wanted to improve his jiu-jitsu game after being submitted by Diaz, so he brought Danis on board. McGregor ended up defeating Diaz in the rematch.
Ahead of his first professional MMA bout, Danis trained at SBG Ireland. His stand-up was reminiscent of the style you’d see from McGregor and Gunnar Nelson. At this early stage, Danis’ stand-up wasn’t nearly as refined but his jiu-jitsu was certainly on point.
McGregor took to Instagram to offer praise to Danis:
After the bout, Danis said he was thinking of calling out Ben Askren. At this time, Askren is in search of a Bellator welterweight title bout with champion Rory MacDonald. Danis is likely to be eased into his MMA run.
Bellator 198 featured a heavyweight clash between two legends in the sport. Fedor Emelianenko clashed with Frank Mir in a Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix bout. Emelianenko won the bout via knockout in 48 seconds.
The co-main event saw Emannuel Sanchez take on Sam Sicilia in a potential title eliminator. Sanchez earned a submission victory. After the bout, Sanchez called for a title opportunity against the winner of Patricio Freire and Daniel Weichel. Rafael Lovato Jr. earned a submission win over Gerald Harris, while Neiman Gracie scored a win via tap out as well against Javier Torres.
MMANews.com was on top of all the action during the weekend. You can see results, highlights, and other post-fight tidbits.
What did you make of the MMA debut of Dillon Danis?
