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Eddie Hall vs. Dillon Danis Falls Apart But UFC Veteran Aspires To Rebook It: ‘I Love the Idea’

Eddie Hall vs. Dillon Danis Falls Apart But UFC Veteran Aspires To Rebook It: 'I Love the Idea' According to Chael Sonnen, a fight between Dillon Danis and renowned British strongman Eddie Hall damn near came to…

According to Chael Sonnen, a fight between Dillon Danis and renowned British strongman Eddie Hall damn near came to fruition.

Our deal old Uncle Chael broke the news on his YouTube channel, claiming that a fight between Danis and 2017’s World’s Strongest Man was all set, but ultimately fell apart. Unfortunately, we don’t really get many more details than that, but ‘The American Gangster’ made it clear that whoever was in the process of putting that fight together should get back on the ball and seal the deal ASAP.

“Eddie Hall versus Dillon Danis—okay, they were set for an MMA showdown,” Sonnen said. “Now, here’s how I got the news: I heard about it after the fact. But the news is that there’s no showdown, no match. And honestly, I almost wish I hadn’t even heard about it because I love the idea.

“I don’t know what those two were going to do. It was MMA, sure, but if Eddie was involved, I wouldn’t even have to question it. Eddie doesn’t get enough credit. Whoever lost this match, I’m sorry you lost it, but get it back.”

It’s hard to imagine a fight like that being sanctioned anywhere within the United States considering Eddie Hall weighs in at around 362 pounds while Danis typically walks around at half that. Chances are it would take place in the United Kingdom which Hall hails from and still calls home.

After establishing himself as an accomplished BJJ specialist, Danis made the move to mixed martial arts in 2018 and won back-to-back bouts under the Bellator banner. He has not competed since scoring a first-round finish against Max Humphrey in June 2019.

Dillon Danis set for boxing match with KSI ahead of a return to MMA

Danis did return to the spotlight in October 2023 for an exhibition boxing match with Logan Paul. ‘El Jefe’ ended up losing the bout after being disqualified in the waning seconds of the sixth round after attempting to land a takedown on Paul during the critically panned scrap.

On March 29, Danis is expected to return to the squared circle for another exhibition boxing bout, this time against Logan Paul’s PRIME Hydration business partner Olajide Olatunji, also known as KSI.

Danis was also drafted by Team New York in the first-ever Global Fight League draft and is expected to compete for the promotion in the future. No official dates have been announced regarding his debut, but GFL founder Darren Owen suggested that a fight with former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson could be in the cards for Conor McGregor’s old BJJ coach.

Chael Sonnen Exposes ‘Top Draw’ Conor McGregor’s 11 Failed Callouts Amid Rumored $250 Million Logan Paul Fight

MMA star and now analyst Chael Sonnen is highly skeptical of the boxing exhibition between Conor McGregor and Logan Paul ever taking place. This is after he’s seen the former UFC double champ call out several big names in the combat sports world without ever stepping inside the ring with them. “The Notorious” is arguably […]

“The Notorious” is arguably the most popular MMA star ever and he’s made several claims about his Octagon return since losing to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. But after he pulled out from a highly-anticipated fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303, fans started doubting whether he would ever fight again.

However, the 36-year-old caught everyone off guard with an announcement that he was in talks with Mukesh Ambani, a billionaire, for a boxing match in India against the Youtuber turned WWE Superstar Logan Paul. The news unsurprisingly gained a lot of steam on the internet thanks to reports claiming the Irishman would bag a staggering paycheck of $250 million for his participation.

Conor McGregor and Logan Paul are to feature as part of a historic “Visit India” tourism campaign as the pair clash in Mumbai’s iconic Wankhede Stadium.

The two will be well rewarded for their efforts, with McGregor set to walkaway with $250 million, making the fight one of the… pic.twitter.com/HTuIMN5w8F

— The Mac Life (@TheMacLife) December 29, 2024

Soon, UFC CEO Dana White, a key player in the business, turned down McGregor’s claims and vouched for his return to the Octagon by the fall of 2025.

Now, Sonnen has joined White as well because he believes that the McGregor’s recent call outs do not mean much. In fact, there’ve been over 10 fighters that have been called out by the Dubliner in the past few years and none of these fights were ever close to being finalized.

“Meanwhile, getting reports, Conor McGregor is going to box Logan Paul, which is just silly. And Conor McGregor, a great performer and magician, has now called out 11 people in a row, and none of which he fought. I couldn’t even list them all. When he started bringing in Pacquiao, the Crawford, that redheaded kid, and all the MMA guys and the bare-knuckled guys—it’s 11. He’s at 11. Eleven—the top draw who never calls for things that he doesn’t have the power to have—gets turned down publicly 11 times, which is about nine more times than anyone in their entire career.”

McGregor hasn’t fought anyone in the Octagon since 2021 and the last time he stepped in the boxing ring was in 2017 in one of the highest-grossing PPV events of all time against undefeated boxing great Floyd Mayweather.

However, Mayweather vs. McGregor was officially co-promoted by White and since McGregor is still signed to UFC, his return to boxing does not seem likely without the UFC CEO’s approval.

Chael Sonnen Calls Francis Ngannou The Sole Obstacle To Jon Jones Superfight: “Dana’s Already Announced It’s Going To Happen…”

The former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger Chael Sonnen has defended UFC boss Dana White, claiming Francis Ngannou to be the roadblock in his highly-anticipated heavyweight clash with Jon Jones. Jones vs Ngannou has easily been one of the most talked-about MMA fights for a couple of years now. However, the deal never […]

Jones vs Ngannou has easily been one of the most talked-about MMA fights for a couple of years now. However, the deal never reached fruition and differences with White led to the-then UFC heavyweight champion leaving the promotion altogether.

Following his departure from the UFC, “The Predator” explored other opportunities such as boxing fight Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He also signed with the PFL, becoming their heavyweight champion by defeating Renan Ferreira.

Despite no plans to ever return to the UFC, Ngannou believes a superfight with Jones is still not off the table. In a recent interview, he claimed that Turki Al-Sheikh, the current Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, could intervene and convince White to cross-promote with the PFL for this bout.

However, Ngannou’s narrative that White is blocking the fight with Jones didn’t sit well with MMA fighter turned analyst Sonnen.

Here’s what Sonnen said while putting the blame on the former UFC heavyweight champ for avoiding the Jones fight:

“Poor Francis was in a world title fight, in the fight capital of the world, in the world’s biggest promotion, where he is going to headline. He was not the champion of the world. He wanted to be. He was going to be given that opportunity. Do you understand? Okay. Because it was at that time that it had already been announced by Dana White, this giant obstacle, that when Jon Jones returns to heavyweight, it will be for the belt. So now we don’t, now we don’t only have an obstacle, it doesn’t even fully have to do with Francis. Francis didn’t even have the belt. He was scheduled to fight Stipe, a fight that Francis had already lost. Like, we didn’t know who the champion was going to be, but whoever it was going to be, we were going to stick to the deal and the plan that when Jon comes up, Jon will contest with that person. It’s important that you understand that, because that one detail, in and of itself, that timeline excludes the possibility that Francis was being picked on. It was an open statement that Jon will contend whenever Jon comes back, if he ever comes back, right into a world title fight. That happened to be Francis. And what happened next? Jon came back. So now we have Jon, and we have Francis, and we’re going to get to see Jon versus Francis. People are talking about it. You’re talking about it. Dana’s already announced it’s going to happen.”

Sonnen, being the company-man he is, believes that White cannot be blamed at all for Ngannou and Jones not being able to settle their rivalry inside the Octagon.

Although Jones first fought at heavyweight after over a year of Ngannou’s last UFC outing, “The American Gangster” believes if “The Predator” had not parted ways with the UFC, he would’ve fought “Bones” instead of Ciryl Gane in March 2023.

“But somebody blinked. That somebody, I would view to be the obstacle in this equation. Do you agree? Because that somebody was not Dana White. That somebody was not Jon Jones. As a matter of fact, Dana White went through with the plan exactly as he had previously stated, which is that Jon went right into a title fight. And it’s important that you understand this, because Francis left. So to make believe now that you wanted to do something, when you were in a position to do it, and so now the only thing stopping this fight is Dana White.”

Ngannou is promising his fans worldwide a big comeback to combat sports. In boxing, he definitely can be a part of big fights like the Fury rematch or a possible showdown against the hard-hitting Deontay Wilder. In MMA, he’ll have the option to defend his title against the top heavyweight contenders in the promotion.

Chael Sonnen Calls Paddy Pimblett vs Ilia Topuria Personal: ‘They Do Have Unfinished Business’

MMA superstar turned analyst, Chael Sonnen has carefully observed the long-running feud between Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett. He believes that the recent online trash-talk could very well turn into a real fight as tensions between the two began as early as 2022. “The Baddy” has frequently tried to reignite his beef with Topuria. In […]

“The Baddy” has frequently tried to reignite his beef with Topuria. In one of his recent interviews, he called the reigning featherweight champion a ‘midget’, and showed interest in fighting the Georgian if he moves up to 155 lbs.

Pimblett also believes that Alexander Volkanovski clearing the featherweight division helped Topuria quickly grab the belt, and he’ll likely be overwhelmed by his opponents’ size at lightweight.

“The American Gangster” finds this callout interesting because it has all the potential to produce a great fight given the very real bad blood between the two fighters. Here’s what he said on the matchup in a recent video on his YouTube channel:

“Paddy the baddy is willing to welcome Ilia Toporia to 155 pounds. Now, it’s not Paddy’s first choice because Ilia is not a big enough name but he will do it because of the hand sanitizer incident—he wanted to give him a beating back then, so he will just delay that desire to whip Ilia Topuria until now at 155 pounds. Even though Ilia doesn’t quite have the name recognition now, I summarized, okay?”

The former title challenger thinks Pimblett might be trying to get the match with “El Matador” at the perfect time. The featherweight champ has expressed his desire to move up a weight class to challenge lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who, interestingly, seems reluctant to hand out a title shot to another featherweight champ right away.

So, having Pimblett welcome Topuria to the lightweight division might be win-win for all the parties involved.

“But, from a performance standpoint, that’s great. That is great stuff by Paddy to declare that he is willing to do a favor for the world champion—stay in your weight class, fight for a world title, activate the participation clause of your contract, the only clause that you can have in MMA that can make you millions of dollars in one night. Leave all of that to come up to 155 over a personal feud where no title is on the line, no legacy is on the line.”

Because of their infamous alteration in 2022, Sonnen is confident that Pimblett vs. Topuria is certainly not a far-fetched dream:

“But we do have this incident with the hand sanitizer, and you know what? They do have unfinished business. I remember that night very well.”

Although he’s never fought at lightweight, knocking out Volkanovski and Max Holloway in back-to-back fights has skyrocketed Topuria’s popularity. On the flip side, Pimblett’s biggest wins are Tony Ferguson and King Green, and fans are still doubtful of his potential since the controversial Jared Gordon fight.

Chael Sonnen Calls Paddy Pimblett vs Ilia Topuria Personal: ‘They Do Have Unfinished Business’

Pimblett also believes that Alexander Volkanovski clearing the featherweight division helped Topuria quickly grab the belt, and he’ll likely be overwhelmed by his opponents’ size at lightweight.

“Paddy the baddy is willing to welcome Ilia Toporia to 155 pounds. Now, it’s not Paddy’s first choice because Ilia is not a big enough name but he will do it because of the hand sanitizer incident—he wanted to give him a beating back then, so he will just delay that desire to whip Ilia Topuria until now at 155 pounds. Even though Ilia doesn’t quite have the name recognition now, I summarized, okay?”

So, having Pimblett welcome Topuria to the lightweight division might be win-win for all the parties involved.

“But, from a performance standpoint, that’s great. That is great stuff by Paddy to declare that he is willing to do a favor for the world champion—stay in your weight class, fight for a world title, activate the participation clause of your contract, the only clause that you can have in MMA that can make you millions of dollars in one night. Leave all of that to come up to 155 over a personal feud where no title is on the line, no legacy is on the line.”

Because of their infamous alteration in 2022, Sonnen is confident that Pimblett vs. Topuria is certainly not a far-fetched dream:

“But we do have this incident with the hand sanitizer, and you know what? They do have unfinished business. I remember that night very well.”

‘Together, They’re Worth $50 Billion’ – MMA Legend Regrets Not Buying TKO Stocks Following WWE And UFC Merger

Chael Sonnen recently discussed how the UFC and WWE might be valued at $50 billion together at the moment. He came to the conclusion by pointing out that TKO’s stock price has doubled in the last year and also stated that he should’ve invested in the company’s stocks on time. Under the banner of TKO, […]

Under the banner of TKO, UFC and WWE went public on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2023. This was after Endeavor initiated the process of combining the world’s biggest sports entertainment organization, WWE, with the world’s premier MMA promotion to form a sports and entertainment company called TKO Group Holdings.

Valued at $21 billion at the time of merger, TKO marked the beginning of new chapter for both the UFC and the WWE and in no time, it’s stock price has doubled.

Discussing this exponential growth of both companies since they went public, the former UFC title contender regretted not taking his friend’s advice who wanted him to invest in TKO back in 2023.

“TKO is the publicly traded company that owns WWE and UFC. Now, don’t hold me to these numbers and dates perfectly, but a year ago, TKO was valued at $70. I remember getting a call from Jesse on Fire when it hit $70. Jesse on Fire calls me and he’s telling me to load up, and I did not. I did not load up. I bought, but I did not load up.”

While “The American Gangster” was still processing if TKO was really a good investment opportunity as his friend had already made money on it, the stock grew by another 10%.

“And like that, it was at $77. It jumps 10% while I am processing what Jesse told me. So I don’t get in until it hit $90. That’s when I finally go load up. But I want you to think about this, okay, the UFC sold for what was a higher valuation for a franchise than the evaluation at current time of the New York Yankees’. And the New York Yankees were said to be the most valuable franchise in the world, and the UFC sold for more than the Yankees’ valuation.”

TKO also owns the WWE, and here’s how Sonnen came to the conclusion that both the brands, together, might be valued at $50 billion now:

“You then have WWE, which sold—I’m going to round numbers here—but for over twice what the UFC sold for. You had a statement by TKO where they said they valued the entire company, so having both entities, at $22 billion. Now, the UFC had sold for $4.2 billion, WWE had sold for $11 billion, and now, because they are together, just go ahead and add 30% to that number to get us to $22 billion. But the stock is still hovering around $90 at the time of this story.”

He further theorized:

“Now, fast forward one year, and the stock, as we speak, is $153. So let’s just call that double. That’s double what it was when Jesse on Fire calls and tells me. If I look at the stock price—and this isn’t a perfect way to do an evaluation, I’m just sharing for you, loose terms—if I look at the stock price, it’s valued at $22 billion when it’s at $77. Now that it’s worth twice that, are we saying that together, they’re worth $50 billion. Is that what we’re saying?”

Sonnen’s friend, Jesse Merl, undoubtedly gave him solid advice regarding loading up on TKO stocks as he himself is now enjoying a 100% profit on his investment in just a year. The YouTuber posted about the same on X and is pretty confident that this is just the beginning for the UFC, Dana White, and TKO.