Bellator fighter and jiu-jitsu star Dillon Danis has claimed he is earning more money than most UFC champions for his boxing clash with KSI.
Danis, 29, makes his boxing debut against YouTube star KSI on January 14 at Wembley Arena in London. The training partner of former two-weight UFC champion Conor McGregor hasn't fought in over three years, being plagued with frequent knee injuries that have delayed his return. Danis, who is unbeaten in two MMA fights, has claimed that his purse for fighting KSI is more than any champion on the UFC roster.
“I’m 2-0 and I’m about to make more money than any guy in MMA right now,” he continued. “It actually might be close to Izzy [Israel Adesanya] and Conor’s not fighting right now. I’m telling you. I saw what Paulo [Costa] was supposed to make against [Robert] Whittaker and that’s what I was getting in my first fight for Bellator. That’s nothing. It’s embarrassing. I got more than that in my first fight in Bellator.”
“I’m still the most relevant at 2-0 and I’m about to make the biggest bag out of anybody in MMA, active. I’m not going to say [how much], but it’s way more than anybody. Once it comes out, then you can see. It’ll come out. I’m telling you, I’m making more money than any UFC champion right now."
The UFC stopped releasing most of its financial details, such as fighter pay and pay-per-view sales, several years ago. This makes it hard to estimate how much Danis is making for his fight with KSI, but it's believed that Adesanya is the second-highest earning UFC fighter behind McGregor and is guaranteed at least seven figures for his fights before any pay-per-view bonuses.
Who wins on January 14 - KSI or Dillon Danis? Let us know your prediction in the comments section below!
Danis is still under contract with Bellator and had to pay a "hefty fee" to the promotion's president, Scott Coker, to pardon him for his contractual obligations. The 29-year-old's upcoming fight is being streamed on DAZN, which is a direct rival of Showtime, the network that Bellator airs on in the US.
“I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about how I had to do that, because Showtime and DAZN are rivals, so I had to pay a hefty fee [to Bellator],” Danis added. “It’s a lot of money. What I’m paying Coker to let me fight is more than probably every UFC [fighter makes]. I’m still with them [Bellator]. It would be different if I was with Showtime, because Showtime, they have a deal with them.”
