Report: Danis to make MMA debut at Bellator 198; opponent TBD

Dillon Danis' first walk to the cage apparently has a date at long last.

The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace will make his MMA debut against a yet-to-be-determined opponent at Bellator 198 on April 28, MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani reports.

It remains to be seen which weight class Danis will call home, although he'd originally planned to debut at welterweight before making his way down to 155 pounds when he signed with the outfit last March.

Danis earned his black belt under vaunted instructor Marcelo Garcia and got acquainted with the MMA world in the summer of 2016, when Conor McGregor enlisted him as a training partner for his rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 202. The debutant will fly to Ireland next week to prepare for his first pro bout alongside McGregor and his SBG Ireland cohorts, head coach John Kavanagh told Helwani.

Heavyweights Fedor Emelianenko and Frank Mir will square off in the third quarterfinal of Bellator's eight-man grand prix to close out next month's bill at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.