Gordon Ryan, possibly the greatest no-gi grappler of all time, has no shortage of disrespect for Dillon Danis. Danis, who was once a respected grappler but has faced ire from the MMA community of late, was in Ryan’s crosshairs during a recent interview with The MMA Hour.
First, Ryan threw Danis a backhanded compliment regarding is ability to stay relevant. “The thing about Dillon, Dillon is a master — an absolute master — at managing to stay relevant without actually doing anything combat related.
Gordon Ryan Drags Dillon Danis
I don’t know how he does it, but he does it, and props to him because — his family must have money, because he doesn’t do anything to generate revenue. He doesn’t have sponsors, if you look at his Instagram, he doesn’t teach, he doesn’t compete. I don’t know how he’s not homeless. He must have an inheritance or something. But he manages to stay relevant.
He was pretty well-respected as a brown belt. He won a lot of things at brown belt, and then he was a big prospect at black belt. And then he had the falling out with Marcelo [Garcia], and then once he got in with McGregor, that’s when he started to fall apart. His popularity skyrocketed, but his career kind of fell apart from there.”
Danis once faced Ryan at ADCC, taking “The King” to a decision, which Ryan won. Gordon Ryan argued against the case that Danis’ jiu-jitsu is anything special.
“It was my debut, it was his second ADCC, and he played a very tactical, cagey game and actually took me to a decision. I ended up winning a decision, and I’ve been trying to have a rematch with him ever since, but he won’t do it, of course. But he was pretty well-respected coming up through brown belt.
What people don’t know about this is, everyone thinks he’s this badass, now I think they’re kind of starting to realize, but if you actually look at the statistics — and I’ve been dying to say this on a big podcast — Dillon Danis has a record in jiu-jitsu since black belt of 18 wins and 16 losses. He’s not nearly as good at jiu-jitsu as people think he is. Everyone just references the match with me. Yeah, that was five years ago. I wasn’t good either. But Dillon since black belt is 18-16. So, it’s not a great record since black belt.”
Is Gordon Ryan right about Dillon Danis? Let us know in the comments.
