A video of a subway incident where a teen was getting bullied went viral on social media, prompting a celebrity mixed martial artist to step in and offer to pay for his martial arts lessons.
Dillon Danis, an MMA pro and former Conor McGregor jiu-jitsu coach for posted the plea on his social media account, urging his followers to help him identify the victim.
The video, which has been viewed over 6 million times, showed a group of boys surrounding the victim hurling slurs at him repeatedly.
Dillon Danis was heartbroken by the video and vowed to help the victim by offering to pay for his membership at the nearest jiu-jitsu gym.
While there’s plenty to criticize about Danis, he’s also made similar pleas in the past and actually followed up on them.
In 2019, Danis connected to another viral video victim and sponsored him to train jiu-jitsu.
Sadly the kid opted not to stick with BJJ and nothing really substantial came off of it in the end. In a world where viral videos are starting to be a daily occurrence it’s important to take initiative and actually try to help those that are affected.
BJJ techniques nowadays are primarily curated for use on a mat, where both participants are wearing a gi (uniform). Everyday life may not include any such uniform, making it harder to apply what you’ve learned. But it’s still a valuable tool to get some confidence back after an incident.
Danis has been reeling a bit in his personal life. His much anticipated boxing debut was cancelled when he pulled out just 10 days before the event. Reportedly, Danis was struggling to find a coach that would train him for it.
He was once a respected member of the BJJ community but he’s been reduced to a crypto promoter on social media. To date, Danis has some of the biggest social media accounts among BJJ stars and reportedly charges around $1000 for 8 hours of a post staying live on his socials.
Internet detective Coffeezilla caught Danis in the act and even pranked him into being a part of an unsavory promotion.
With his career under a question mark, we hope that this good will gesture won’t go unnoticed and that the bullied kid will actually seek out martial arts.