The highly anticipated face-off between Dillon Danis and Logan Paul has come to an end, but the verbal sparring continues.
After months of buildup, the two finally entered the squared circle on October 14th in Manchester. This co-main event was part of Misfits Boxing’s latest pay-per-view. Unfortunately, the match failed to meet expectations.
Danis struggled to mount any significant offense through six rounds. Ultimately, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist lost via disqualification for attempting to wrestle Paul to the canvas in the closing moments.
Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored after the match, Danis squarely placed the blame on Paul. He contended that the social media star spent the entire match evading any kind of engagement.
“It didn’t feel like a fight. It felt like he was trying to run away. Every time I tried to engage with him and get in there and trade, he would run away.”
Morgan promptly challenged Danis on this assertion, citing that Danis had landed merely nine punches over six rounds of action.
According to ESPN stats, Danis connected with only 16 of 70 punches thrown. This was a rather dismal figure when compared to Paul’s 108 successful strikes out of 330 during the nearly 18-minute encounter.
“He was running. He was on the back foot the whole time. I was trying to push forward. I wanted to fight. I wanted to clinch. I wanted to fight, I was like, let’s go.”
In the waning moments of the last round, Danis seemed to aim for a takedown by putting Logan in a guillotine choke. This prompted security staff from both camps to rush to the ring, inciting a chaotic brawl.
When asked about this move, Danis clarified that taking Paul down wasn’t his intention. He also accused Paul of using Vaseline on his head.
Danis explained: “I wasn’t actually trying to, but he was smart. He vaselined his head up so I guess he knew I was trying to go for his neck. But at that moment, I actually wasn’t. I was just grabbing his head and he just kinda shrugged me with the Vaseline. Then he threw that punch and I up kicked him.”
He continued: “I was just messing around with him a little bit, letting him know what a real fight is. Boxing is not a real fight. It’s a half a fight. I want a real fight where he shook my hand and said he was going to fight me in MMA.”
“He shook my hand. If he’s a real name, he should [fight me in MMA]. He didn’t defend his fiancee in my opinion. If a man talks the way I did about your fiancee, he should call me out.”
In the lead-up to the match, Danis aggressively targeted Logan Paul’s fiancée Nina Agdal. In response, Agdal filed a lawsuit and accused Danis of breaking both state and federal ‘revenge p*rn’ laws.
When questioned about this behavior, Danis conceded that he wouldn’t have engaged in such attacks if it were anyone else. He defended his actions, asserting that everything he shared was already public knowledge.
Danis stated: “If it was someone else, yes. I would never do that. I would never cross those lines. With the Pauls, they cross those lines all the time. In this fight, it made sense. It was all true. Everything was public. What she’s saying, what she’s suing me for is all fake. I didn’t hack her phone.”
Regardless of whether one finds Danis’ tactics entertaining or not, they undeniably achieved their purpose. Early reports indicate that the pay-per-view event garnered a staggering 1.3 million buys.
To put this in perspective, the UFC has achieved this number only six times in its 30-year history. Danis also disclosed that he pocketed over a million dollars for his efforts both inside and outside the ring.
Danis stated: “After this, I want to go to the UFC. I think the UFC will see my potential in selling fights and everything like that.”