Bellator’s Scott Coker laments Dillon Danis heading to boxing to face KSI: “He had a lot of potential”

Bellator President Scott Coker isn’t super thrilled with Dillon Danis’s new career choice.

‘El Jefe’ has been a controversial figure since making his way into the MMA world. Originally coming onto the scene as Conor McGregor‘s jiu-jitsu coach, Danis quickly began making a name of his own. In 2017, the submission ace signed with Bellator.

The following year, the jiu-jitsu expert made his Bellator debut against Kyle Walker (2-5). He won by first-round submission, and moved to 2-0 in 2019 the same way, submitting Max Humphrey (3-3). That latter fight was the last time that Danis competed in the cage.

Since then, Dillon Danis has become a big name for his life outside the cage. Recently, he’s gotten into several fights with names such as Nate Diaz and Anthony ‘Pretty Boy’ Taylor. Now, he’s set to move to box in January and face YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI.

The matchup with ‘The Nightmare’ has made a lot of headlines and generated a lot of excitement. However, there is one man who has to be a little saddened by the contest. That individual is Bellator President Scott Coker.

Following Bellator 288 last weekend, the promoter gave his thoughts on the submission artist’s move to boxing. While his bout with KSI hadn’t yet been formally announced, Coker seemed disappointed by the prospect of Danis moving to boxing.

“The thing that is a little frustrating is when you think about Dillon Danis, the guy has a great ground game, he’s one of the best Jiu-Jitsu guys on the planet,” Coker said of Danis. “So we signed him, we wanted to develop him, we wanted him to come into our system and start fighting. Fighting tougher guys…” (h/t MMA News)

He continued, “But I think he got sidetracked a little bit and other things got in the way. To me, he had a lot of potential. We can’t make him do it, he’s gotta want to do it. Right now he’s doing something else.”

What do you make of these comments? Do you agree? Sound off in the comment section below PENN Nation!