“I Need To Protect Myself”- Just Like Joe Rogan and Conor McGregor, Dillon Danis Opened Up on the Real Reason He Started MMA Training Owing to Rough Childhood

MMA is not only a sport, as to the likes of Joe Rogan and Conor McGregor, it is something that changed their lives forever. Two of the biggest stars of the UFC owe their MMA careers not to their families or coaches, but to particularly bad experiences back in their school days. Both Rogan and McGregor were victims of the bullying and thus picked up MMA to gain back their confidence. And Dillon Danis shares a similar story.

The American fighter recalled how he started his Jiu-Jitsu journey when he appeared on the ‘Johnny Drinks Podcast’. ‘El Jefe’ is currently living his third calling in combat sports as he prepares for his boxing debut against Logan Paul. However, it all started with a street fight.

Dillon Danis narrates the fight that nudged him to the MMA world

The 30-year-old mentioned it started with getting into a fight at the school. Contrary to his current brash and trash-talking nature, he was a quiet kid. Further, he recalled that there was a kid in his class who would always mess with him.

He said, “I was kind of [a] quiet kid. I wouldn’t say I got bullied. I definitely was just more of a quiet kid when I was growing up. And some kid used to always mess [with] me.”

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Following this, the Bellator star detailed how he wrestled his bully one day when tensions culminated in a street fight. The older kids took his bag and threw it in the mud after taking all his belongings. Later on, he also received threatening messages. It all came to an end when he discovered the UFC and Georges St-Pierre.

How did the UFC and Georges St-Pierre change Danis’ life?

Recollecting his memories, Danis stated, “We started watching UFC, and I was like, ‘I need to start training’. Because I need to protect myself because I’m not gonna get jumped over. I’m not going to get beat up. I think it was the Georges St-Pierre fight, and I saw he was taking everybody down at the time.”

He added, “I was like, ‘I want to do that’ and it happened to be a magazine back in the day and I saw there was a gym by my house. I just went to go train, I never stopped.”

Notably, Danis then started training in BJJ at 15, and at 17, he joined Marcelo Garcia’s academy in New York. Subsequently, he moved to the city to pursue a career in BJJ and burst on the scene when he joined McGregor’s camp as a trainer and a coach in 2016. Two years later, he transitioned to MMA under the Bellator banner and now looks set to make his debut in the square ring on October 14.

What do you think of this unknown aspect of Dillon Danis’ life? Let us know in the comments below.

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