Dillon Danis Withdraws Again: Mike Perry Faces Brandon Jenkins at Duel Arena 1

The sport’s loudest absentee is out of another fight.

Dillon Danis has withdrawn from his scheduled MMA bout with Mike Perry at Duel Arena 1, set for Saturday at the Kia Center in Orlando. Perry broke the news himself at Thursday’s pre-fight press conference, revealing that Danis had gone dark in fight week.

According to Perry, there was “no communication” from Danis. No explanation. No back-and-forth. Just silence.

The card will go on without him. Perry, now a cult star in bare-knuckle circles, will instead face Brandon Jenkins, a former UFC fighter, in an MMA contest.

For Danis, it is a familiar pattern. The record on paper looks clean enough: 3-0 in MMA. The reality around it is far messier. He has spent years building a persona online, baiting rivals, trolling champions, and inserting himself into every major combat sports storyline he can reach. When it comes to actual competition, his recent history is a trail of defeats in other disciplines.

Danis has dropped his last two RAF bouts, losing to Khamzat Chimaev and Colby Covington, and came up short in a high-profile boxing match against Logan Paul in 2023. His last appearance in MMA came way back in August 2025, when he blew away newcomer Warren Spencer in just 15 seconds to claim the inaugural Misfits MMA light heavyweight title. That brief destruction only added to the frustration that he has not built on it.

On Thursday, as Perry spoke to the media in Orlando, Danis finally surfaced online. He posted a video on Instagram displaying a gruesome arm injury, paired with the caption: “S*** happens in the fight game. Beyond disappointed.” The clip offered a reason, but no timeline, and no certainty about when—or if—he will actually step into an MMA cage again.

Perry, meanwhile, just keeps fighting.

Since leaving the UFC in 2021, he has reinvented himself as one of combat sports’ most reliable brawlers, thriving in bare-knuckle fighting and leaning into the chaos. This weekend’s bout will be only his second MMA appearance since that departure, but his stock has soared thanks to his bare-knuckle run and his fan-friendly style.

He underlined that resurgence in May, when he defeated Nate Diaz on the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano undercard at the MVP MMA event on Netflix, a result that pushed his name even further into the mainstream.

Now he gets Jenkins instead of Danis, another late twist in a career that seems to attract them.

For Danis, the questions only grow louder. The talk never stops. The fights almost always do. And with another withdrawal on his record, the lingering doubt hangs over him yet again: will he ever truly return to MMA, or has that window quietly closed while the sport moved on without him?