KSI has revealed his upcoming clash with Dillon Danis only came about after talks with several former UFC stars proved unsuccessful.
The 31-year-old hasn’t fought since losing a unanimous decision to Tommy Fury in October of 2023 but plans for his return to the ring are already well underway.
Last month Mail Sport revealed that KSI had agreed to face former Chelsea and England full-back Wayne Bridge, with the pair coming together with an awkward exchange at a Misfits Boxing event in Manchester.
As the pair faced off KSI repeatedly taunted Bridge about his past relationship with French underwear model Vanessa Perroncel.
Bridge withdrew from the fight days later, claiming the comments had ‘crossed a line’, forcing KSI to begin hunting for a new opponent.
On Tuesday it was revealed that the social media star will instead face Dillon Danis, a jiu-jitsu competitor and former MMA fighter perhaps best known for his association with Conor McGregor.
KSI has revealed he went through multiple potential opponents after Wayne Bridge pulled out of their fight
The social media star explained that he was in talks with multiple former UFC title challengers before settling on a fight with Dillon Danis
Danis’ was defeated by Logan Paul in his only boxing bout to date in October of 2023
However, KSI subsequently revealed that he only accepted the fight with Danis after he was unable to secure a showdown with multiple other stars from the world of MMA.
‘My team reached out to Nate Diaz, because we wanted to show the world that Jake beat Nate Diaz in the way that he beat him, let me show what I can do,’ KSI said on the Ariel Helwani show.
‘Similar to what I did with Tommy Fury. Tommy Fury obliterated Jake, everyone who watches that fight goes, “Jake Paul got his a** handed to him and he lost”.
‘Whereas with the fight with me and Tommy everyone’s saying “KSI should have won that, Tommy Fury shouldn’t have won”.
‘We went to Masvidal, he couldn’t do it because of his UFC contract. Went to Donald Cerrone, he said no. Went to Tony Ferguson, he said no. So we were scrambling.
‘And then eventually, Mams [Taylor – KSI’s manager] comes through to me like, “we got Dillon Danis”, and I’m like “are you sure there’s not any more options?”
‘I finally get my hands on him. Logan did his thing, I want to fully knock him out. I want to show the world that if he’s going to double guard like that he’s going to get absolutely obliterated because I’m a guy that looks to kill.’
Danis’ only boxing bout to date came on the same night KSI was defeated by Fury, where he faced Logan Paul.
After engaging in a prolonged social media campaign where he frequently targeted Paul’s fiancee Nina Agdal, Danis was summarily defeated at the Co-Op live Arena, landing just 16 punches before being disqualified at the end of the final round.
