Logan Paul: Nina Agdal and I will 'slaughter' Dillon Danis — in ring or in court 

27/09/2023 23:02

Logan Paul professes not to care whether or not Dillon Danis shows up to their boxing match on Oct. 14. Either way, he wins.

On Wednesday's The MMA Hour, Paul addressed the lingering possibility that he may instead fight backup fighter Mike Perry, denying him the chance to exact physical retribution for Danis' repeated attacks at his fiancee, model Nina Agdal.

"I would prefer that he shows up," Paul said. "If he doesn't, I will be more than happy to handle Mike Perry. It won't feel like a letdown. I'll let Nina handle him in court. We're going to slaughter him either way."

Before agreeing to the fight, Paul built in an incentive for Danis to honor his commitment: A $100,000 fine for pulling out of the bout with a non-verifiable injury. That added to a $100,000 check Danis reportedly had to write to Bellator President Scott Coker for fighting out of his contract with the Paramount-owned MMA promotion.

Given what Paul has seen so far from Danis online, he accepts his opponent still may not show up.

"I don't know, is this guy crazy enough to set his hand down on the table and whack a finger with a hammer?" he said. "Who knows the extent this dude will go to not fight me, because I don't think at this point that's above him. Like, he will do anything to avoid fighting me. But if he does end up pulling out and he can't prove an injury, he'll have to pay me $100,000."

Another reason Danis might be motivated to collect his fight purse could be the federal lawsuit recently filed against him by Agdal, who alleges he broke revenge pornography laws by posting an explicit photo of her without her consent. Abgal recently won a court order to stop Danis from posting explicit photos when he failed to show up for a hearing.

Paul said his fiancee won't miss the fight on Oct. 14. Paul said the former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model has taken Danis' antics in stride.

"The response that Nina is exhibiting, and the strength of her character, is the reason that I asked her to marry me," Paul said. "This woman is incredible. I love her so much. She is the person who I want to mother my children, and I admire her. She honestly inspires me, and she's handling all this great. She handled it in the most mature way possible. She hasn't said a word about it, and she's going to hold him accountable where he needs to be held accountable, which is in the justice system, but it's completely unrelated to our fight."

On X (formerly Twitter), Danis initially claimed the lawsuit might keep him from fighting and has documented his efforts to evade process servers, a cat-and-mouse game that reflected unfavorably for him in court records. Paul said Agdal's lawsuit against Danis only relates to the way he promotes the fight.

"He's making up anything he can to try to rationalize to himself and his fans, that are just deluded enough to believe the things he says, because 75 percent of what he says is not true, but nothing about that keeps him from showing up. It is completely unrelated. ... You picked a fight with a woman, [and] she's standing up for herself. You got to sleep in that bed. Not my lawsuit, buddy, that's hers. But you gotta deal with me."

When Danis shows up to Manchester, Paul believes it's more likely than not his opponent will fight. Ultimately, though, he chose to take the gamble on Danis because the payoff of facing him in the ring was sweet enough.

In the process, Paul inadvertently turned Danis into a folk hero by giving him the spotlight to turn the contest into an ugly soap opera. As a social media star who's more than familiar with being a polarizing character, Paul is used to elevating people who come into his orbit. This time, however, he gets the chance to end the conversation with his fists.

If he doesn't, his fiancee will end it with a judge.

"I don't [regret choosing him]," Paul said. "I mean, ask me on October 15th. But I really just feel like when I connect that right hand to his face in the cleanest way possible, and I watch him crumble, and I tower over him with my hand in the air, and it's the most glorious knockout, the crowd goes crazy, that people have ever seen, that feels like it's going to be worth it to me. And then we're gonna see the slow decline and downfall of Dillon Danis.

"I truly believe his downfall will be studied for decades. I think after this fight, the harsh reality of his actions are going to set in, because again, you picked a fight with two people here — me, my fiancee — we're both gonna handle you, and I have a feeling he's going to gain weight. I have a feeling he's gonna fall back into alcoholism. I have a feeling he's gonna declare bankruptcy.

"Clip this. But the end of Dillon Danis is near. We got 16 days."