Dillon Danis was KSI’s last resort for a boxing return at Misfits Boxing 21.
KSI and Danis most recently boxed in separate matches against Tommy Fury and Logan Paul, respectively, in October 2023. Each lost on the night and took the following year off to weigh their options. News of their latest booking was surprising, especially after Danis’ performance against Paul and considering he already withdrew from a scheduled fight against KSI in January 2023. A consistent concern about the former Bellator welterweight has always been whether or not he makes it to his matches, to the point where a withdrawal fine was even added to his contract for the Paul fight.
Despite his next opponent’s spotty track record, KSI said Tuesday on “The Ariel Helwani Show” that he fully expects Danis to show up on March 29 in Manchester, England — if only because of Danis’ ongoing legal battle with Paul, which stems from personal attacks toward Paul’s fiance Nina Agdal.
“He needs this fight. He’s getting sued by Logan Paul,” KSI said. “He needs to fight, he’s running low on money. Logan Paul is going to rinse him out. He needs the money to defend himself. No concerns.
“I’m going to beat his face, repeatedly. I’m going to absolutely destroy him. I pray he double guards against me because he’s going to feel the full force of my fist constantly breaking his face. I’m going to knock him out. If I don’t knock him out, that’s an L on my point, yes. Huge L.”
Danis has done an exceptional job making enemies in and out of combat sports. Likewise, KSI isn’t shy about engaging in a war of words when attacked or necessary.
The two have bantered back and forth sporadically since their most recent bouts, and now that they’re officially set to collide, it’s already gotten personal on social media.
Ultimately, Danis wasn’t someone KSI wanted to do business with.
“I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it,” KSI repeated. “But what options do I have? People say no to me. You know why people say no to me? I mentioned this in my YouTube video, it’s because I don’t portray myself as a pro boxer that wants to be a world champion. I’m not that. I’m just a guy that has fun boxing. It’s a part-time thing for me. I’ve got music, I’ve got PRIME, I’ve got Sidemen, I’ve got my own YouTube channel. I’ve got all these other things that I’m juggling, and then I also box.
“So I’m not trying to be a world champion. I’m not trying to be the best of the best in terms of that boxing scene. I just want to have big fights, win, and beat Jake Paul and build Misfits. That’s it. I came back to build Misfits to create as much hype as well. Build undercards, build other fighters, and then eventually, when Jake Paul has the f***ing cojones, fight him.”
The younger Paul brother has been a target of KSI’s ire since they both entered the boxing world in 2018. While both began by taking similar paths in the “influencer boxing” game, KSI has taken a less serious approach in the years since, while Paul has pursued more notable veteran names in combat sports.
The latest on Paul list? Pound-for-pound great Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
Unfortunately for Paul, the “Canelo” match was pulled out from under him this past week. Since negotiations broke down and Avalrez signed a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season instead, Paul has been none too pleased with the Mexican legend.
Watching the fallout, KSI can’t help but laugh at the whole situation.
“I think he’s like a f***ing crybaby,” KSI said of Paul’s reaction. “Literally, ‘wha, wha, wha,’ all over the timeline, all over X. F*** off. Get mad, find a new opponent. I’m here. After I beat Dillon Danis, I’m here, buddy.
“They’ll say they want it but they need a few more fights before they get to me. Let’s say I’m [MVP Promoter] Nakisa [Badarian], ‘We need to squeeze as much money out of Jake as we can. We really need that ‘Canelo’ fight just to get more money. But looks like we’re going to have to try and find a new opponent that isn’t KSI. We just need to try and squeeze as much money.’ And you know why? Because they fight me and they lose, it’s done. It’s over. Because for me, part-time, boxing part-time, it is what it is — I can go. I would never lose to Jake Paul, but let’s say it happens, OK? I can go back and still do Sidemen. I can go back and do my music. I can go on tour. I can release an album. I can do my YouTube channel. I can do all these things, promote PRIME, I can do all these things.
“Jake loses, what’s he got? What happens?” he asked. “Losing to me is game over. No one cares about him anymore. People have been waiting for this fight between me and him. Have been waiting for years.”
KSI, 31, has always felt like his next boxing match may be his last since debuting against Joe Weller as an amateur, however he’s stuck it out for eight bouts and is eager to take on bigger challenges than Danis.
When KSI and Misfits Boxing co-founder Mams Taylor sought out opponents, several MMA veterans were put on the table, KSI said, though none of the offers were accepted for one reason or another.
“We’ve reached out to so many other fighters,” KSI said. “I’ve done a YouTube video on this, but my team reached out to Nate Diaz because we wanted to show the world that, ‘OK, Jake beat Nate Diaz in the way that he beat him. Let me show what I can do, similar to what I did with Tommy Fury.’
“Tommy Fury obliterated Jake. Everyone who watches that fight goes, ‘Yeah, Jake Paul got his ass handed to him and he lost.’ Whereas with the fight with me and Tommy, everyone’s there like, ‘KSI should have won that. Tommy Fury shouldn’t have won, da da da da.’ I showed the levels. I showed that I was better than Jake. We wanted to do it again with the Nate Diaz fight. I wanted to fully knock him out. Then he said no. So we went to [Jorge] Masvidal — he couldn’t do it because of his UFC contract. Went to Donald Cerrone — he said no. Went to Tony Ferguson — he said no.
“So we’re scrambling. What are we going to do? We need to try and find an opponent. We’ve got a date, March 29, set. So we need to find someone. Then eventually Mams comes through to me like, ‘We got Dillon Danis.’ And I’m like, ‘Ah great. Well, you sure we don’t have any more options?’ And he was like, ‘No, man. We’re literally on the bare bones here.’ Screw it. Let’s just go, let’s just have fun. You know what? I finally get my hands on him. Logan did his thing. I want to fully knock him out. I want to show the world that, yes, if he’s going to double guard like that, he’s going to get absolutely obliterated because I’m a guy that looks to kill. I’m a guy that looks to hunt. I look for blood. I want to destroy you. I’m not going to just let you survive.”
KSI acknowledged that Diaz was his ideal choice out of every name presented. He said Misfits did its best to bring in the UFC legend, but the matchup just couldn’t get across the finish line.
Diaz’s fighting future remains unknown as 2025 rolls on. If he changes his mind about Misfits Boxing and a potential KSI match, the English influencer will still welcome him with open arms.
“I’m so down. I would love to do that,” KSI said of fighting Diaz. “I think that would be a great fight. Fantastic fight. And at a weight that he’s comfortable at as well. I’m not gonna make him go 200 pounds, etc., like Jake did. No, I’ll fight him at his best.”
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