A new training clip of Eddie Hall has got MMA fans talking as he ramps up for a highly anticipated clash with Dillon Danis.
The former World’s Strongest Man — who retired from strongman competition in 2017 after becoming the first Briton to win the title since 1993 — has pivoted from lifting to combat sports in recent years.
Hall tested the boxing waters in a hugely hyped bout with Hafthor ‘Thor’ Bjornsson, and in April 2025 he made his professional MMA debut, knocking out fellow strongman legend Mariusz Pudzianowski just 27 seconds into the fight.
Now, in a number of social media posts, Hall has confirmed that his next opponent will be Danis, the American grappler who fought Logan Paul in 2023 and was disqualified in the sixth round when a mass brawl broke out. The bout between Hall and Danis is expected to carry a 299lbs limit and — although the matchup is not slated until early 2026 — Hall has already started training, captioning his post: “MMA Beast loading…”
In a 20-second clip that has since gone viral on social media, Hall displayed a rapid combination of kicks and punches that had fans split on social media. He captioned the post exactly as follows: “Some say Dillon’s world class jiu-jitsu will be too much for me.
“Others say he’s never felt a real punch and I’ve got the hardest recorded punch on the planet. FACT.”
The footage and Hall’s caption set social platforms alight. Fans were quick to react — some confident Hall’s power will prevail, others warning Danis’ elite grappling could expose Hall’s relative inexperience on the mat.
Reactions on social media included everything from outright predictions of a short, violent ending to cautious advice about technical gaps. One fan wrote: “Man… there is no way Danis is going to go toe-to-toe with Eddie.
“He’s going to go for the foot locks right off the bell,” one person added. “Or at least wrestle him a bit to gas him before going for a choke.”
Another said: “This is silly.. Eddie Hall obliterates Dillon Danis,
“If he doesn’t gas out within 30 seconds and get put on his a**,” commented a fourth.
But there were also more tactical takes. One fan urged Hall’s camp to shore up a specific weakness: “Whoever Eddie’s trainer is, tell him to train leg lock defence. Eddie’s strong enough to rip a guillotine off and maybe even an [rear naked choke]. If Danis can even get past his neck, the legs will be what they’re going for.”
Hall’s prodigious power is well-documented. In 2024 he set a world record on the Powerkube punching machine at the UFC Performance Institute — a statistic frequently cited by his supporters when predicting his ability to change a fight with a single shot. Still, the general consensus among more cautious fans remains the same: Power will only take you so far if you can’t handle jiu-jitsu and scrambles on the ground.
And it’s safe to say that the 2017 World’s Strongest Man is confident, previously telling Bloody Elbow: “Honestly, I just need one good shot on his face, and he’ll regret shaking my hand. I’m not particularly bothered [about the takedown] but I’ll be prepared for the full fight.”
“[I’m] coming into Dillon’s world, because, as we just saw, you can be the best striker on the planet, but as soon as they get that jiu-jitsu in, it’s game over,” he told TalkSPORT. “I know jiu-jitsu – not as good as him – but I’ve got a lot of strength to back it up, and that’s the difference.”
Hall’s challenge comes after he shared a mocked-up promotional poster for the bout – though a date and venue remain “to be confirmed”. At this time, it appears that Hall is looking for a streaming service/promoter to pick up the fight – tagging Netflix, Misfits, and others in his posts.
“Coming soon,” Hall wrote. “Some say Dillon’s world class jiu-jitsu would be too much for me… Others say he’s never felt a real punch, and I’ve got the hardest recorded punch on the planet FACT!! Who will win???”
Danis has accepted a collaborator role on the post, suggesting that he is all-in for the fight too.
Hall has repeatedly stated his intent to make the fight happen, even if it requires a dramatic weight cut. After the initial face-off with Danis at the end of August, Hall confirmed to media that he would be prepared to drop weight to make the matchup official.
As the discourse shows, the Hall vs Danis fight is shaping up to be one of those crossover spectacles that is sure to thrive on the uncertain collision between raw power and refined technique.
For now, fans will have to sit tight for official confirmation of date and venue — but the viral clip and Hall’s bold caption have already done the job they were meant to do: they’ve got people talking, arguing, and picking sides ahead of what promises to be a combustible mismatch between two very different skillsets.
Featured image credit: Instagram/@eddiehallwsm
