Steve Kozola opened up the Bellator 175 main card by defeating Jake Roberts by first round TKO.
Following the victory over Roberts, the fighter called out Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Dillon Danis for a fight and he explains why the callout was made.
“Conor is authentic for who he is – he’s been like that since the beginning of his career,” Kozola told MMA Junkie. “I followed Dillon before he became Conor McGregor’s (jiu-jitsu) coach. I never saw this from him – never saw this ‘Look at my fashion, look at this money,’ everything like that. First of all, you don’t even have money. Whatever money you have, Conor’s giving to you, all right, for training him. You don’t make much off BJJ. But be your authentic self. That’s how you go far, is being true to who you are – being true to the martial arts. He is a Marcelo Garcia black belt. Marcelo Garcia is the nicest guy in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the world. There’s no way that you get a black belt from him with that type of attitude. There’s just no way.”
Danis has yet to really respond in any way to the call out by Kozola.
Whether Danis actually fights him or not, the fighter knows that Danis will take on either him or one of his teammates down the line.
“At some point, he thought that he was going to increase his stock, increase his popularity, which is true, through this manner,” Kozola said. “But that’s not how you’re going to get far in the long (run). He got what he wanted: Now he’s in a major promotion. He’s doing MMA. He’s going to try to say he’s making his big bucks. But the thing is, he’s going to walk into an authentic fighter – someone like myself, if he comes down to 155. Or if he goes to 170, he’s eventually going to run into my teammate Fernando Gonzalez, who will do just as bad, if not worse to him, than I will. That’s not how you’re going to make it. Be true to who you are. He’s a great martial artist. He’s a great jiu-jitsu practitioner. Carry that with you – build that. You’re not going to be the best copycat. You need to be authentic and be original. Don’t be a copycat.”
Although Danis has yet to fight, the BBJ expert did help longtime teammate Conor McGregor as a coach on the UFC Ultimate Fighter 22.
