Dillon Danis Wants Islam Makhachev Fight For UFC Title, 'Finish The Storyline'

Dillon Danis, after nearly two years away, is returning to the cage ... and the polarizing fighter says he plans to stay active -- with the ultimate goal being a scrap with UFC star Islam Makhachev!

TMZ Sports talked to 32-year-old Danis ahead of his Misfits 22 MMA scrap vs. Warren Spencer on Saturday (the fight's streaming on DAZN) ... where Dillon walked us through his reasoning for fighting a fairly unknown opp.

"Since the Logan fight, we had a bunch of fights, and I was trying to go, trying to go. Eventually, I'm just like, 'Alright if I'm just gonna be sitting around, I'm gonna fight'. Me taking a fight like this, getting my record up, getting more experience, people see me fighting, it'll help me get those bigger fights."

Danis continued ... "I'm not gonna keep just sitting around waiting and these guys saying, 'I don't want to get submitted by Dillon. He's 2-0 and I'm a legend.' I'm sick of waiting. I'm just gonna go out there and show what I do and just take anybody."

That's not to say DD doesn't plan on hunting down some big named opps after Saturday's scrap ... and he laid out his gameplan in detail.

"Obviously, after this fight, I want to fight Tony [Ferguson] for the belt because we were supposed to fight, if he wins, I hope he does, I wish well for him, but I think it's tough fight, it's a hard switch to boxing from MMA."

Tony isn't the only famous fighter he was close to sharing the cage with ... he says multiple big events have fallen apart right before the finish line.

"We had the [Mike] Perry fight signed. We had Nate [Diaz] almost there. We had [Jorge] Masvidal almost there. We had [Donald] Cerrone almost there. So many other guys that I could keep going," Dillon said.

Danis also revealed that he's spoken with top UFC exec Hunter Campbell after potentially signing with the world's top MMA promotion ... and Dana White's company is interested.

"I've talked to Hunter, Hunter's saying he needs me to stay active," Dillon explained ... "so that's one of their critiques on me, so now I'm doing that to."

The ultimate goal for Danis?

"Finish the storyline. Me and Islam would be finishing the storyline."

"Get my revenge that I always said I would get after that night he punched me in the back of the head at least six times. I never pressed charges, I didn't do anything, I said I'll get my revenge one day, so that would be a way to finish that storyline, me and Islam for the belt," Danis said, referencing the '18 melee after Khabib Nurmagomedov beat Conor McGregor at UFC 229.

Of course, 33-year-old Makhachev, 27-1, has arguably been the most dominant fighter in the sport over the last couple of years ...  but Dillon believes he has the tools to submit Islam.