Merab Dvalishvili pulled off the first bantamweight title defense of his career against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311, making him the first man to defeat a member of the famous family. However, it seems that Conor McGregor’s friend and former Bellator fighter Dillon Danis is far happier to see the Nurmagomedov family taking a loss.
Following the fight, Danis went on social media and made yet another bigoted remark at the Dagestani camp, “F*** the Nurmagomedovs“.
Fuck them inbreds fuck the Nurmagomedov’s
— Dillon Danis (@dillondanis) January 19, 2025
On Saturday night, Umar’s title aspirations came to a screeching halt despite putting on a brave show against the 135 lbs champion. He dominated the series of exchanges in the first couple of rounds but ultimately faded against Merab’s pace and relentless pressure as the judges came to a unanimous decision.
This provided more fodder to Danis, who has already had a long history of taking cheap shots at the Nurmagomedovs. His feud with them stems from back in the day when he used to be McGregor’s Jiu-Jitsu coach and training partner.
Earlier on Saturday, he had used the same ‘inbred‘ remake for the Dagestanis after offering to become the No.1 contender for Islam Makhachev’s lightweight title as Armenia’s Arman Tsarukyan had pulled out at the 11th hour.
“I submit the inbred inside one round and send him back to his brother-and-sister parents.”
Perfect time to settle everything. I’ll fly to LA tomorrow and fight @MAKHACHEVMMA no problem. I submit the inbred inside one round and send him back to his brother-and-sister parents. @moicanoufc is literally absolute garbage. This can’t be considered a title fight, and no one…
— Dillon Danis (@dillondanis) January 17, 2025
It is unlikely that Danis will ever find himself inside the octagon with any of the Nurmagomedovs. Khabib has long retired, while it is an irony that Usman is a champion at present at Bellator (now PFL).
Danis used to be signed to the promotion and could have fought him. However, he was released by the promotion in October 2023 after 4 years of inactivity.
Umar, on the other hand, is likely to stay amongst the top contenders in the bantamweight division and is likely to find himself in a title fight again. And with Danis unlikely to sign with the UFC at this point, this feud seems rather toothless.
Why is Danis feuding with the Nurmagomedovs then?
Danis became an anti-Nurmagomedov ever since the vitriolic Conor vs Khabib fight at UFC 229. After forcing McGregor into submission and winning the lightweight title, Khabib had jumped out of the the octagon and attacked Danis, who happened to be in the Irishman’s corner.
It was speculated that Danis had been talking anti-Muslim trash to Khabib throughout the course of the fight. However, in an interview, Khabib denied the rumors and stated that the only reason he attacked Danis was because the rest of McGregor’s corner was just too old to fight back.
“I didn’t hear (Danis), you know… If I jumped on Kavanagh, I don’t think… it’s too… Kavanagh can’t fight me… I don’t like his whole team but if I had a choice, what I’m gonna do, but all the other coaches were too old for me. They cannot fight me, you know. They’re almost like my father’s age. That’s why I jumped on (Danis).”
Khabib was suspended for 9 months after the match and was fined $500k from his reported $2 million purse for the fight by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Both McGregor and Danis had also been fined for their involvement in the fight. While McGregor’s purse got lighter by $50k, Danis had to file a $7,500 check for the commission.
That was in 2018, which is almost 6 years ago. But Danis has clearly not forgotten about all that and moved on. So, it is unlikely that fans have seen the end of these crude remarks from him.
