In an effort to spice up Dillon Danis’ upcoming MMA return, KSI may have just offered a deal that caused Dana White to coin his infamous ‘that’s f—ing illegal’ line.
The YouTube star and boxer is promoting this Saturday’s Misfits Boxing event at the AO Arena in Manchester, which is headlined by Darren Till and Luke Rockhold. One special attraction on the night is a MMA bout inside the ring between Danis and Warren Spencer.
And in an effort to avoid Danis using his jiu-jitsu to take the fight to the ground, KSI has offered to double his purse if he pursues a knockout. It harkens back to Seth Petruzelli and Kimbo Slice’s infamous Elite XC bout of 2008 where the former was reportedly paid to keep the fight standing.
KSI offers Dillon Danis dubious deal to double his fight purse
The belief heading into Saturday’s pay-per-view is that Dillon Danis’ elite black belt game will make him a monstrous favorite against white belt Warren Spencer, who is better known for boxing. In order to avoid making a boring fight, KSI has offered his long-time rival double his purse if he lands a knockout.
Danis’ previous two victories in the Bellator cage were quick-fire submission wins over lower levels of opposition, but Spencer is all but a beginner in the sport. As a result, KSI wants to make it a more even fight.
However, Danis isn’t so keen, and made the counter-offer that KSI guarantee he fight him in an MMA bout should he score the knockout. Neither man seems keen to agree to the other’s deal, despite all of their bluster on stage.
As Danis was facing off with Spencer for the first time, the action quickly turned into a shouting match between he and KSI on stage. No deal was reached, and during a post-show scrum with Bloody Elbow and other media, Danis was not eager to accept the deal.
Dana White branded similar deal ‘illegal’ during infamous rant
Danis is keen to get himself into the UFC with a string of wins, but taking a deal like KSI’s might just draw the ire of Dana White. Back in 2008, the UFC CEO went off on promoter Gary Shaw who reportedly offered grappler Seth Petruzelli extra money to stay standing in his fight with Kimbo Slice.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter too much as Petruzelli ended up knocking out Slice regardless of his rival’s supposedly superior striking. But the whole issue enraged White, whose infamous rant about the situation saw him utter his infamous “that’s f—ing illegal’ line.
“It would be like in the NFL, there’s a game between the Patriots and the Browns,” White began in a legendary piece of MMA footage.
“The NFL goes into the locker room and tells the players ‘listen, the Patriots pull higher ratings if they make the playoffs and Super Bowl than the Browns, so here’s what we’re going to do; the Browns have a great running game so we’re going to pay your team more money if you just pass tonight, don’t run’.
“We need the Patriots to win to make it to the next level – that’s f—ing illegal.”