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12th January 2017
05:43pm GMT

"It's actually a funny story. Me and him had a beef when I was 16/17. He used to come to a place in Jersey where I used to train because his manager was the coach of my gym. He used to wear that stupid shirt that said, 'If Sambo was easy it would be called jiu-jitsu.' I said, 'Ok, let's do a grappling match then and see how easy jiu-jitsu is.' Never came to fruition."
Although he never got a chance to settle his differences with Nurmagomedov, Danis explained that this bad blood followed him all the way to the UFC 205.
The New Jersey native was there as part of McGregor's team for his historic title win over Eddie Alvarez while Nurmagomedov defeated Michael Johnson on the preliminary card. At the official weigh-ins for the event, Danis noticed some of the Dagestani's entourage mean-mugging him. He thinks there's a possibility this was a direct result of his past beef with their guy.
"Nah, it was through the team. I never got to train with him. At the last weigh-in, all his Russian friends were staring me down like they wanted to kill me. I don't know, that's just how they are though."Danis, who's currently in talks with several promotions over making his professional MMA debut added that he thought a match-up against Nurmagomedov would suit him, even going as far to say that he would be confident in finishing him. However, he acknowledged that he would never be handed a 24-0 fighter for his first ever fight.
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