Eddie Hall might be twice as big as Dillon Danis, but if they ever face off in a sanctioned fight, he sees the playing field as more level than fans might assume.
The legendary World’s Strongest Man champion
recently made a successful MMA debut at KSW 105, where he defeated fellow strongman superstar Mariusz Pudzianowski. Then, in September, Hall faced off with Danis at a Misfits Boxing event in Manchester, England, planting the seeds for a future contest.
Since that encounter, the matchup has hit a few snags, with Danis withdrawing from a December matchup with Anthony Taylor, and Hall still figuring out how he’s going to cut down to weight that works for both him and Danis. If it happens, though, Hall expects all of the rules and regulations to be set in such a way that the smaller Danis stands a better chance of winning.
“He is a professional fighter,” Hall told the Disruptors Podcast. “He’s been doing it full-time for his whole life. I’ve been doing it a year and a half. … By the time you’ve factored in the weight loss, his weight gain, the round times, obviously everything’s going to be in his favor. It’s going to be five-minute rounds. I have to sort of give him every advantage because I’ve got the biggest advantage, which is size and strength.”
“That’s what makes it tough. That’s what makes it fun. That’s what makes it a challenge. Getting down to 135 kilo. I haven’t weighed 300 pounds since I was 21.”
Though Hall and Danis only have four MMA bouts between them, Danis has an extensive background in competitive jiu-jitsu, while Hall’s only other combat sports experience was a boxing loss to actor Hafþor Julius Bjornsson a.k.a. “Thor.” Hall’s massive size and strength presumably would make him a load for Danis to deal with, but Hall thinks having to cut weight will close the gap ever so slightly.
“So from face value, it looks very unfair, because he weighs 80 kilo (approx. 176 pounds) and I weigh 165 [approx. 364 pounds],” Hall said. “Hear me out, though. So at face value it seems very unfair, but from what I gather, he walks around at close to 100 kilo (approx. 220 pounds) and as part of the stipulation, I’ve got to come down to under 300 pounds. So come the fight, there will only be around 35 kilo difference. It’s still a lot but it’s nowhere near 80 kilo.”
As for how the gigantic Hall will actually cut over 60 pounds… well, he’s still figuring that out.
“I honestly don’t know,” Hall said. “If we were to get the deal done for February, it gives me just over three months. It’s going to be a hard process because I’ve got to lose 30 kilo pretty much. If I were to be, like, zero percent body fat, I could probably lose 30 kilo and be zero percent body fat. That’s just unrealistic, it’s not going to happen.
“So, I’m going to have to lose muscle. I’m going to have to pull some muscle back as well as the fat to get down to that weight, so it’s going to be a super strict diet. Be carnivore only. It would just be meat, eggs, and dairy, and it would be a little bit of calorie restriction I would imagine to get down to that weight pretty fast.”
There’s also the matter of figuring out who will actually promote the fight, something Hall is confident will be sorted out sooner rather than later.
“So I’m talks at the minute with a few federations about fighting Dillon Danis, who is the world-renowned—probably, I think he won some big titles in jiu-jitsu,” Hall said. “So he’s quite a badass. You know, he’s had a lot of fights and obviously you’ve seen him fight on Misfits and stuff like that. A bit of a ‘love him, hate him’ character. … We get some contracts signed and hopefully off we go.”
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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Henry Cejudo vs. TBD (wrestling); RAF 6, Feb. 28
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FINAL THOUGHTS
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