Mike Perry Fights Brandon Jenkins After Dillon Danis Withdraws Again

Mike Perry turned up for fight week. Dillon Danis, once again, did not.

Two days before they were due to meet in an MMA bout at Duel Arena 1 inside the Kia Center in Orlando, Perry revealed at Thursday’s pre-fight news conference that Danis is out of the fight. No late drama at the scales, no heated faceoff. Just silence.

According to Perry, there was “no communication” from Danis’ side. The matchup collapsed without even the usual social media theater that has long surrounded the polarizing grappler.

The show goes on for Perry, though. The former UFC welterweight, who has reinvented himself as one of combat sports’ most reliable brawlers, will now face Brandon Jenkins, a former UFC competitor, in the MMA contest. It is a late switch, but hardly the first time Perry has had to adjust on the fly.

Danis, officially 3-0 in MMA, has built a reputation less on cage time and more on constant noise outside it. His recent competitive record tells a different story to his bravado: back-to-back losses in RAF grappling to Khamzat Chimaev and Colby Covington, and a high-profile boxing defeat to Logan Paul in 2023.

His last MMA appearance came in August 2025, when he blew away newcomer Warren Spencer in 15 seconds to claim the inaugural Misfits MMA light heavyweight title. That quick finish only added to the sense that, if he ever committed to the sport, there might be something substantial behind the bluster.

Instead, the pattern continues.

On Thursday, after Perry had already confirmed his withdrawal, Danis posted a video on Instagram showing a gruesome arm injury, captioned, “S*** happens in the fight game. Beyond disappointed.” The clip offered an explanation, but not the showdown many fans had circled when the bout was announced.

For Perry, this marks just his second MMA appearance since leaving the UFC in 2021 and thriving in bare-knuckle fighting, where his relentless style and iron chin have turned him into a cult headliner. He arrives in Orlando off the back of a high-profile win over Nate Diaz on the Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano undercard at the MVP MMA event on Netflix in May, a result that only boosted his crossover appeal.

Jenkins now steps into a spotlight that was supposed to belong to Danis. Perry gets an opponent who will actually show up. The fans get a fight.

As for Danis, the same question lingers yet again: will all the talk ever lead to a sustained run in MMA, or is this the closest his promise will come to reality?