Dillon Danis is back, apparently, despite being away from competitive grappling for years, and he’s surprisingly open to a rematch with Gordon Ryan. The two first met in 2017 at ADCC, where Danis pushed Ryan to a decision loss in the opening round of the under 88kg division. Ryan, of course, went on to dominate the tournament, securing gold in his division and silver in the absolute. Since then, Ryan (love him or hate him) has become one of the greatest no-gi grapplers of all time.
Despite his long absence from high-level Jiu-Jitsu, Danis seems willing to step back onto the mats, provided the price is right. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, he was quick to answer if he would do a rematch with Ryan:
“Yeah, 100%, if they pay. We’ve gotten big money, but that would have to be a big-money one.”
The mention of big money naturally raises the question of where such a matchup could take place. One potential option could be the Craig Jones Invitational (CJI), which made waves. Craig Jones even approached Danis about competing at the first CJI, but nothing materialized. However, a rematch between Danis and Ryan seems unlikely under that banner—Ryan has already made it clear that he has no interest in competing at CJI 2.
First off if Ryan competed at the CJI Danis would have to get being Jones who would love a match with the GOAT.
Plus, there’s a tight relationship between Ryan and the ADCC, which is at odds with CJI.
That leaves other major promotions as possible hosts for the rematch, but Danis has a complicated history with at least one of them. His comments suggest a strained relationship with the UFC’s Jiu-Jitsu promotions, possibly hinting at the UFC Fight Pass Invitational:
“When I go to the UFC events, they got these Jiu-Jitsu guys on the screen and stuff like that, and like, they made me pay for tickets when I’m the one that brought Jiu-Jitsu up when no one was talking s**t.”
That’s classic Danis for you—equal parts bravado and grievance.
Should Danis commit to a match with Ryan, it’s pretty safe to say two things are going to happen:
- Danis is going to whine and complain the whole time.
- There is going to be a ton of smack-talking.
