Dillon Danis Withdraws Again as Mike Perry Faces Brandon Jenkins
The fight world braced for another chapter in the Dillon Danis circus. It got the same ending.
Mike Perry revealed Thursday at his pre-fight news conference that Danis is out of their scheduled MMA bout at Duel Arena 1, set for Saturday inside the Kia Center in Orlando. No buildup, no drama at the table, no back-and-forth. Just silence.
"There was no communication," Perry said, outlining how the matchup simply evaporated. The promotion moved on. Perry moved on. Danis, once again, did not.
Instead of the outspoken grappler, Perry will now face Brandon Jenkins, a former UFC fighter, in an MMA contest. It is a very different fight, but at least it is a fight.
Danis Talks Big, Fights Rarely
On paper, Danis still owns a perfect MMA record: 3-0. In reality, his career has been defined less by what he has done in the cage and more by what he has done online.
He has spent years trolling opponents and calling out stars across MMA and boxing, all while stacking up losses in grappling, wrestling and boxing matches. He dropped recent RAF bouts to Khamzat Chimaev and Colby Covington, then stepped into boxing in 2023 and lost to Logan Paul.
His last MMA appearance came in August 2025, when he blew away newcomer Warren Spencer in just 15 seconds to claim the inaugural Misfits MMA light heavyweight title. It looked like a launchpad. It turned into another pause button.
On Thursday, Danis posted a video to Instagram showing a gruesome arm injury, captioned, "S*** happens in the fight game. Beyond disappointed." The image was ugly. The timing, all too familiar.
Perry Keeps Marching Forward
Perry, by contrast, has carved out a second life in combat sports by doing the simplest, hardest thing: showing up.
Since leaving the UFC in 2021, he has reinvented himself as a star attraction in bare-knuckle fighting, embracing chaos, cuts and all. The gamble paid off. He has become one of the sport’s most reliable headliners and a magnet for attention.
This weekend marks only his second MMA fight since that UFC exit, but he arrives with momentum. In May, Perry defeated Nate Diaz on the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano undercard at the MVP MMA event on Netflix, a result that underlined his status as a crossover draw who thrives under bright lights and odd circumstances.
Now he pivots again, from Danis to Jenkins, with little time and even less fuss. It is the kind of adjustment that has defined the late stages of his career.
The Danis Question
For Danis, the pattern grows harder to ignore. Big talk. Bigger build-ups. Then postponements, withdrawals and what-ifs.
The arm injury is real enough; the video made sure of that. The frustration in his caption sounded genuine. But the larger question hovers over him and his career every time a bout collapses.
At some point, the record, the reputation and the reality have to meet in the same cage.
The wait begins again to see if Dillon Danis will actually fight in MMA—rather than just talk about it—ever again.
