Dillon Danis has addressed his withdrawal from a fight with YouTuber KSI by insisting the "truth will shock everyone".
Bellator MMA fighter Danis was scheduled to fight KSI on January 14 at Wembley Arena, but pulled out of the fight on 10 days' notice and has been replaced by FaZe Temperrr. The accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt was sceptical about the fight throughout its build-up, ghosting the pre-fight press conference whilst admitting he had no regular trainer.
KSI's manager Mams Taylor has claimed Danis pulled out of the fight because he is "underprepared", but the American has hinted at a different reason in his latest tweets. Danis broke his silence after withdrawing from the fight by writing "fake news", also attaching a laughing emoji to the tweet. He also went on to write: "the truth will shock everyone".
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Danis' withdrawal marks the second time in recent months KSI has been forced to change opponents on short notice, with fellow content creator Alex Wassabi pulling out of their fight last August. KSI reacted to news of Danis' withdrawal by writing: "Two fights, two pullouts. Kmt. The show must go on. I’m still fighting January 14th."
The YouTuber's manager claimed he had no communication with Danis in the days before his withdrawal. "Obviously he's got some other issues, it's very sad and unfortunate because he didn't reciprocate the respect that we've given him and no word from him. He's clearly embarrassed that he's in this position and who knows what he's going to come out with and say, but I'm disappointed," Taylor said.
"I never thought that someone who cares about his reputation or what people think of him as much as he does, I didn't think that this would be something despite many people saying the opposite. They said he wasn't going to show up to the fight and they were right. It's just disrespectful to KSI, if Dillon was a proper man he would go out and say 'guys, I am so sorry'. He's never going to say that in my estimation."
Danis, who holds a MMA record of 2-0, hasn't fought in over three years due to a frequent knee injury delaying his return. The 29-year-old was protesting a rehydration clause in his contract to fight KSI that would have seen him weigh in again on fight day after cutting down 177.5lb for the official weigh-ins. His replacement FaZe Temperr was already scheduled to compete on the January 14 card against a 'mystery opponent'.
