Islam Makhachev on Why His Team Attacked Dillon Danis “You have to answer what you said”
Islam Makhachev explains why His Team Attacked Dillon Danis. The UFC 322 main card at Madison Square Garden on November 15 provided fireworks before Islam Makhachev ever stepped foot in the Octagon. In the audience, chaos erupted when Dillon Danis, the former grappling champion and Conor McGregor training partner, found himself in the center of a brawl with multiple members of Makhachev’s team.
Why Islam Makhachev’s Team Attacked Dillon Danis
Moments before Makhachev faced Jack Della Maddalena for the welterweight title, security footage captured Danis exchanging blows with Abubakar Nurmagomedov, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s cousin, and Magomed Zaynukov, the fighter who gained internet notoriety as “John Pork,” AKA Chanco, after winning his Contender Series fight.
Zaynukov, who boasts a perfect 8-0 record with four first-round finishes before his UFC debut, landed several clean shots on Danis, and his bloody knuckles became visible afterwards. The altercation spilled across fighter seating, media row, and barricades before UFC executive Hunter Campbell intervened to separate the groups.
Danis had spent years directing criticism at Makhachev and Khabib plus their entire team on social media platforms. Before UFC 322, Danis expressed his intentions openly, telling reporters he wanted to “finish off where we started” regarding the UFC 229 brawl from 2018 and that “Islam’s sh*t, all them are sh*t.”
At the UFC 322 post-fight press conference, Makhachev addressed the situation directly. His response centered on accountability tied to years of antagonism: “When you talk [bad] about someone for the last 5 years, when you meet them you have to answer what you said. Today I don’t think he answered. He have to be banned from this country also.”
Danis’s history with the Nurmagomedov camp stretches back to October 2018, when he served as Conor McGregor’s corner during UFC 229. After Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted McGregor in the fourth round, Nurmagomedov jumped out of the cage to attack Danis, triggering a massive melee that left a stain on the sport.
Danis responded to this history with years of provocative social media commentary, calling Makhachev a “cheap shot inbred” in one instance. In 2021, tensions boiled over again when Khabib’s manager Ali Abdelaziz allegedly slapped Danis backstage at UFC 268 inside Madison Square Garden, another New York incident that resulted in Danis’s ejection from the building.
The 2025 altercation at UFC 322 made clear that Danis had deliberately positioned himself to confront the team. According to MMA insider Kamil Gadzhiev, Danis was reportedly playing an AI-generated video of Makhachev and manager Ali Abdelaziz in the section where Khabib’s supporters were seated, a direct provocation designed to ignite a reaction.
Dana White took personal accountability during the press conference, stating: “I blame myself for that actually. They came back and told me right before I walked out for the main card that Dillon Danis was here… I said ‘Well, if the guy has a ticket, let him sit in his seat and keep an eye on him.'”
The consequences fell squarely on Danis. White announced the lifetime ban at the post-fight presser: “You will never see Dillon Danis at a UFC fight ever again.” White explained he was not pressing criminal charges, framing the decision within combat sports culture rather than legal action.
