Dillon Danis shares crucial pieces of advice Conor McGregor has given him

Dillon Danis has become one of the most polarizing fighters in MMA. While he has definitely elevated his station in the industry with his ceaseless trash talk and bravado, he also receives a ton of hate from the fans and his fellow fighters as a result. If there’s anybody who could mentor Danis on how to deal with this kind of backlash, it’s his friend and training parter Conor McGregor.

Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday, Dillon Danis explained that Conor McGregor has actually given him a few crucial pieces of advice to this end.

“In the beginning, when I started getting all this stuff, I was like sh*t, this is crazy,” he said. “I used to get it a lot, cause I was kind of like the bad guy in jiu jitsu anyway, but it wasn’t to the level that it is now. [It was] 100, 200 comments compared to 1000, 7000 comments I get sometimes [now]. I talked to Conor in the beginning and he obviously gave me good advice.

“It was a long time ago, but I think he was just like ‘these people don’t know you,'” Danis elaborated. “He was like ‘if I looked at every comment… It’s just people that are bitter.’ He explained that to me. When you start getting up in the game, up in the world, a lot of bitter and jealous people want to hate on you and try to bring you down for anything you do. “

Dillon Danis also divulged that Conor McGregor gives him technical advice on his striking almost every day — even when they’re not in the same place.

“I talk to him to almost every day,” he said. “I do boxing sparring, and I send him the footage and he’ll critique me with a long paragraph, saying you need to do this, do that.”

Conor McGregor has also taught Dillon Danis how to deal with the massive pressure that precedes a fight.

“He’s always there for me and I appreciate having him a lot,” he said. “Especially the way I jumped into the game, 0-0, going right into it [with] a lot of hype, a lot of pressure. There’s no one better than having him. He’s dealt with it all. I’ve never seen anybody deal with pressure the way he does. It’s crazy. I’ve been with him the night before a fight and we’re hanging out, watching Netflix. It’s crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it. He’s a different kind of breed of human.”

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 4/9/2019.