Anybody associated with Conor McGregor is bound to get plenty of attention, even if they’re not huge household names like the Notorious.
We regularly see a lot of the same faces in the Irishman’s entourage, especially since some of them hopped on a jet with him when they flew from Dublin to Brooklyn last month to confront new UFC lightweight champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
SBG IRELAND
Arguably one of the biggest names associated with McGregor and the Straight Blast Gym in Ireland is McGregor’s jiu-jitsu coach, Dillon Danis.
Danis recently transition into the world of mixed martial arts where he picked up a quick toehold submission win over Kyle Walker at Bellator 198 in Rosemont, Illinois. Danis has been as outspoken as McGregor and oozes just as much confidence as the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion.
However, former middleweight king Michael Bisping isn’t that impressed with Danis or the comments he made following his debut win.
In a recent edition of The MMA Hour, Danis claimed: “I feel like they’ve finally got their golden boy. I 100 percent feel like that and I’m willing to do it. I feel like I can do something here. I feel like I have all the recipe to be different.
“I’ve been saying that. It’s all the things I’ve said. I really feel like no one has seen the way - my fighting style is different...I just feel like I’m different in every aspect and I feel like Bellator recognises that. They feel like they finally have their golden boy.”
Bisping, though, isn’t too impressed with Danis, stating on his Believe You Me Podcast that Danis is a ‘second-hand, overwashed, hand-me-down’ version of McGregor, who started training with Danis in the build-up to the rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 202.
COPYING CONOR
According to Bloody Elbow, The Count said: “Not only is he Conor McGregor’s jiu-jitsu coach, he’s seeming to try to morph and copy McGregor’s antics.
“Certainly his clothing. Conor does wear some f***ing really nice, cool s**t and Dillon Danis is like the poor, second-hand, overwashed, hand-me-down version because his clothes are f***ing terrible.
“But, he’s trying to be Conor so hard, it’s laughable. He even said, ‘After this weekend, I will own Bellator.’ That sounds vaguely like a line where Conor said, ‘I will own boxing.’”
Seeing Danis mimic McGregor is nothing new, as he’s been accused of that by fans ever since he started training alongside the Notorious. However, even though Bisping is not a fan of Danis’ antics, he’s admitted that it’s all working in his favour.
He added: “He probably knows that this kind of behaviour, as it did with me, encourages more people to want to see you get knocked out than win. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. The bulls**t that he’s doing, the s**t that he’s spewing is working.”
Despite Bisping’s comments - who is perhaps echoing what a lot of fans are saying - there’s no way Danis will be switching from his current blueprint which worked wonders for McGregor.
What do you make of Michael Bisping’s thoughts on Dillon Danis trying too hard to be like Conor McGregor? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.