DANIS OUT AGAIN: Rosas Jr. Volunteers From The Crowd To Grapple Covington In Rome
Dillon Danis has pulled out of a signed bout for the third time in under a year — and the man replacing him was sitting in the audience.
Dillon Danis is out. Again.
Hype FC CEO Armand Martirosian announced at Sunday's press conference that Danis has withdrawn from Tuesday's submission-only grappling main event against Colby Covington at the PalaPellicone. It is Danis's third withdrawal from a signed bout in under a year — he also pulled out of an MMA-rules fight with Mike Perry at a Duel Arena event on August 29.
The replacement did not come from a manager's phone call. It came from the seats.
The announcement came with an open invitation: "Unfortunately, Dillon Danis could not come. If there's someone who wants to wrestle with Colby, we can organize it."
Raul Rosas Jr. was in the audience. The 22-year-old UFC bantamweight walked down, faced off with Covington, and took the fight on the spot: "I'll do it, f--k it. Chiwiwis."
The match stands — submission only
Tuesday's main event closes Hype FC's first card in Rome: 11 bouts, ten of them bare-knuckle, with the grappling match on top. The card airs live on DAZN and 1xBet.
The rules do not change with the opponent. The bout is submission-only: no points, no decision to hide behind — a win comes only by joint lock or choke.
A bantamweight walks up a weight class
Rosas Jr. is the UFC's No. 8-ranked bantamweight, 13-1 as a professional, and he is not taking a soft touch between fights. In September he won his first UFC main event, stopping Raoni Barcelos in the fifth round at UFC Vegas 121 — his sixth straight win.
He also knows this stage. Rosas Jr. has grappled under the Hype FC banner before, going the distance with former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo in a match ruled a draw.
Across from him stands a former interim UFC welterweight champion. Covington last fought in the UFC in December 2024, losing to Joaquin Buckley, and has since told the UFC he is retired from MMA. The wrestling did not stop: he holds Real American Freestyle's cruiserweight crossover championship at 5-0 in the promotion, and he has already beaten the man he was supposed to face Tuesday — Covington beat Danis 14-4 in wrestling at RAF 7 in March.
Danis's own year on the RAF mat went the other way. After the Covington loss he was beaten by Khamzat Chimaev, and on October 24 Arman Tsarukyan tech-falled him 10-0 at RAF 14.
Rome gets a guest
The card has drawn one more name to Italy: Conor McGregor announced he will be in Rome this week as a special guest at the event, posting that he is in town with his partners at 1xBet.
What Tuesday sets up
Neither man slows down after Rome. Covington faces Khamzat Chimaev in a RAF title match at RAF Abu Dhabi on November 14. Rosas Jr. meets Clay Guida at RAF 15 on November 28.
First, a bantamweight who volunteered from his seat tries to submit a career welterweight — with no points to save either of them.
