Who had Tony Ferguson vs. Dillon Danis on their 2025 MMA bingo card?
Earlier this month, the Global Fight League hosted its first-ever live draft where hundreds of mixed martial artists were vying for the opportunity to secure one of 20 spots on six different ‘city’ teams: Dubai, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Sao Paulo.
Perhaps the biggest name taken in the draft was Ferguson, who recently ended his 13-year-run with the UFC amid an eight-fight winless streak. El Cucuy‘ was taken as the third overall pick for Team Los Angeles, but according to GFL founder Darren Owen, the promotion could ultimately choose to trade fighters, negating the entire purpose of the draft in order to facilitate certain fights.
Like a showdown between Ferguson and Conor McGregor’s old BJJ coach, Dillon Danis.
“New York versus London, and then the Monday nighter: Los Angeles versus São Paulo. So, each of those—if there’s a matchup we want to make, like people are talking about Dillon Danis versus Tony Ferguson, for example—maybe we trade Tony to the London team so that fight can line up and people get what they want,” Owen said during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show. “So, due to the fact that we kind of control and operate all of it ourselves, we can do creative things like that.”
Dillon Danis has not fought in an MMA bout in six years
Danis, who has not competed in an MMA bout since 2019, was drafted by Team New York in the GFL draft alongside names like former UFC champions Holly Holm and Chris Weidman. Also joining the team were ‘Motown Phenom’ Kevin Lee, Ovince Saint Preaux, and Sidney Outlaw.
“[Urijah] Faber and [Renan] Barao, they want to run that back. They both want to do it. [Chris] Weidman was talking earlier today about Luke Rockhold, we think that fight is great,” Owen added. “The nice thing is they don’t have the ability to decline, so we can make the fights that people want to see and we’re listening to everybody.
“Tony Ferguson (versus) Dillion Danis that may be something that will come to fruition so, we’re down to make the fights.”
Danis’s last time competing, if you want to call it that, came in 2023 when he stepped inside the ring for a grudge match with Logan Paul. Danis delivered an undeniably lackluster performance before being disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct in the waning seconds of the six-round bout.
All six teams have been revealed for the Global Fight League’s inaugural season. On Friday, the promotion held its…
