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Sport

24th Mar 2017

Dan Bilzerian has a serious offer on the table for his MMA debut

A lot of money on the line

Darragh Murphy

Dan Bilzerian announced earlier this week that he would be interested in accepting a mixed martial arts bout.

The so-called “Instagram King” has lived a hell of a life so far but, like us all, Bilzerian has a number of things on his bucket list that he wants to start checking off before it’s too late.

As his 37th birthday approaches, the professional poker player is eager to get into the cage so he can say that he has competed in MMA.

Bilzerian regularly trains at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas so it’s not like he is without any experience whatsoever but a fight is a serious commitment for anyone to make.

“I’d like to fight, but I’ve got to do a real camp,” Bilzerian told MMA Junkie Radio. “I don’t want to go in there and fucking half-ass it. I’ve never half-assed anything in my life, so if I’m going to do it, I really want to do it. Right now, I’ve actually been taking a little bit of time off from the partying and the crazy shit. So it wouldn’t be bad.”

And it didn’t take long for a potential opponent to answer the call.

Fellow poker player, Mike Fortin-Demers, has officially called Bilzerian out for a fight.

Fortin-Demers currently lists his profession as a private investor and he is willing to wager $500,000 that he beats Bilzerian under MMA rules.

The 24-year-old from Longueuil, Québec also has some experience in martial arts, having trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and competed at a national level in Judo, and he is very confident that his hand would be raised if he and Bilzerian crossed paths.

“I saw an article that Dan Bilzerian was looking to do an MMA fight and I just thought that was my chance,” Fortin-Demers told TaskandPurpose.com. “I think I can beat him, so like I said, I’m a private investor, so when I see an opportunity to make money I just take it and I think this opportunity is like really good. I’m willing to bet huge on it.”

https://twitter.com/Mike_Fdem/status/844685133898829824

Bilzerian is not known to turn down a sporting wager, having won $600,000 after coming good on a friend’s challenge to cycle nearly-300 miles from L.A. to Las Vegas is less than two days.

While it may seem quite difficult to envisage this coming to fruition, perhaps we should be taking it seriously as CEO of Legacy Fighting Alliance, Ed Soares, has offered to host the bout.

Watch this space!