Mike Perry just wants to fight.
Now that statement sounds simple enough, especially considering that Perry returns to action against Eddie Alvarez in a bare-knuckle boxing bout scheduled for BKFC 56 on Saturday, but he’s also been interested in a boxing career that’s never really gotten started. Over the past 11 months, Perry has served as the backup fighter for a pair of matchups involving Jake Paul and Logan Paul, but despite his name being mentioned quite often during promotion of the events, he never actually had a chance to compete.
That’s why Perry may not accept another backup role again. He’s heard these guys name drop him over and over again, but he’s yet to throw a single punch against them.
“Guys want a little bit of credibility and they use my name to try get it,” Perry told MMA Fighting. “But you don’t get that credibility unless you’re in the ring with me.
“The real fans, the committed ones know that there’s a difference when I step into that ring as compared to all the trash talk or the interviews or the media. I’m not your best speaker. I’m more of a damn scrapper. That’s what I want. I want the fights.”
For his latest backup role, Perry got the call to potentially step into the fight between Logan Paul and Dillon Danis as they prepared to clash in England.
At the time, it made perfect sense to have a backup in place, especially after Danis dropped out of a previously scheduled matchup against KSI back in January. Perry made appearances at the press conference to promote the event and spent fight week preparing for the possibility that he might get to compete.
While he did get paid for playing the backup role, Perry can’t help but wonder if it was really all worth it.
“All the hoops I jumped through preparing for that fight and going out there and dealing with the organization and the media and all those things, I started realizing this little check is f****** pointless,” Perry said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have done this.
“Then they didn’t even give me any face time, any camera time, any attention towards me at all. Like, what was the point if y’all having me out here just because you could have? Because you offered me a check that was good enough at the moment to be like, ‘Alright, let’s go get this.’ Things happen for a reason. That little check kept me in a certain area until this fight [with Eddie Alvarez]. It is what it is.”
Rather than hearing his name mentioned as a potential opponent like some boogeyman hiding under the bed, Perry wants the chance to do what he does best — and that’s fight.
“If there’s a good chance that someone’s not coming, and I get the full fight and the full paycheck for the fight and get me some damn respect throughout the week, but yeah, really I just want to fight,” Perry said. “F*** all that bulls***.
“I prepared complete for a fight and I deserve to have my name on the poster and everything that comes with it.”
As disappointing as it was that he didn’t get to fight either of the Paul brothers, Perry happily moved on for his return to the bare-knuckle ring on Saturday — and he’s finally landed an opponent ready to throw down with him.
“This is the real fight,” Perry said. “It’s the King of Violence title against a great name who’s fought everyone, everywhere for the last 20 years.
“I can’t let the old man beat me, and that’s nothing against the old man. I love guys like Yoel Romero and Dan Henderson, who fought until he was 47. Yoel Romero is still fighting. Age and experience, [Alvarez] does have the age and experience, but I have the bare-knuckle experience. It’s a good little tossup.”