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Brett Okamoto
NEW YORK — The UFC has banned Dillon Danis, a former training partner of MMA superstar Conor McGregor, from future events, according to UFC CEO Dana White.
Danis was involved in a brawl with several members of UFC champion Islam Makhachev’s team at UFC 322 on Saturday inside Madison Square Garden. The melee occurred cageside, moments before the start of the main card, which Makhachev headlined in a welterweight title fight against Jack Della Maddalena.
Multiple videos showed Danis in a scuffle with Makhachev teammates Abubakar Nurmagomedov and Magomed Zaynukov.
At the UFC 322 postfight news conference, White told reporters he would not press charges against Danis but indicated the 32-year-old would never be welcome at a UFC event again.
“I was on the other side [of the Octagon] and go, ‘F—, I know exactly what this is,'” White said of the brawl. “You will never see Dillon Danis at a UFC fight ever again.”
Danis was in McGregor’s corner in 2018, when McGregor lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov in a UFC title fight in Las Vegas. The two camps engaged in a heated rivalry leading up to that fight, with McGregor making disparaging comments about Nurmagomedov’s family and religion. Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor in their title fight then famously jumped out of the Octagon to attack his corner.
The rivalry has somewhat cooled over the years. Nurmagomedov and Makhachev are longtime teammates, however, and Danis mocked Makhachev in several posts on social media during fight week.