Dillon Danis has issued a response to Eddie Hall following the strongman`s challenge for an MMA fight, despite the considerable size difference between the two athletes.
The controversial former Bellator fighter has endured a difficult year, missing anticipated bouts against KSI and Tony Ferguson due to the cancellation of key events from Misfits Boxing and GFL.
Now, Hall, the winner of the 2017 World`s Strongest Man competition who recently secured a dominant victory over Mariusz Pudzianowski, appears to be a potential new opponent. The pair have previously clashed, and with their schedules now open, a fight could become a reality.
Danis Reacts to Hall`s Challenge with a `Fatty` Remark
Following his rapid 30-second knockout win against Mariusz Pudzianowski over the weekend, Eddie Hall specifically named Dillon Danis as the person he wished to fight next. The weight disparity is significant: Hall`s recent weigh-in was 334lb, while Danis was set to weigh in at 195lb for previous fights, and even lower (165lb/185lb) for others.
Hall posted on Instagram, stating: “Dillon Danis Next. Sort it out Misfits. Big Love, The Beast.” Danis saw this post and chose to reply from his secondary, private Instagram account, TheMadSamurai, which has a significantly smaller following (134,000) compared to his main profiles (millions).
His simple reply was: “Why is this fatty calling me out?” This question is notable given Danis`s own comments in a February interview with Ariel Helwani. At that time, Danis claimed the idea for a fight with Hall was “100 per cent legit, it was my idea,” adding that sanctioning bodies struggled due to Hall`s size.
Danis elaborated in the interview: “One of my favorite fights is Nogueira and Bob Sapp or Mark Kerr fighting those guys. I always wanted to know what it would be like fighting someone that big and see if my jiu-jitsu would work – I’m not scared of losing, if you can beat me then beat me.”
Past Interactions and Disputed Fight Offers
However, the narrative presented by Misfits Boxing and Danis regarding previous attempts to arrange this unique matchup is disputed. Hall later informed Helwani that Misfits had announced the fight as unsanctionable without ever actually discussing it with him or presenting a formal offer.
Hall stated: “Misfits put that out on Instagram and there were no talks if I’m brutally honest. There were no talks whatsoever, or I didn’t know of any talks – there might have been something behind my back.”
He continued: “But I saw that on Misfits and immediately messaged my contact through there and said ‘you’ve got to make this fight happen now’. I’d love to fight Dillon Danis so that may well happen one day, I probably would have fought him if they’d have given me two weeks’ notice.”
