Now that he’s seen him up close and personal, Mike Perry seems to be all in on chasing a fight with Conor McGregor.
“Conor, ‘Notorious’ Conor McGregor vs. ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry is the only fight to make,” Perry told McGregor directly during a TMZ interview posted Tuesday. “It is the No. 1 fight in the world. All the fans want it, we’ll throw hands, southpaw vs. orthodox, big power punchers. I’m the better boxer. And that’s no disrespect on you, mate. You’ve had an amazing career. You said you’re never retiring. I’m getting a little older myself. I think we’ve come a long way.
“I’ve definitely come a long way. You’ve been at the top. It’s my turn to take over. So you could just hand me the keys, or you could let me fight you for them.”
Perry’s callout comes just a few days after McGregor’s surprise appearance this past Saturday at BKFC 41 near Denver. In the night’s main event, Perry, a former UFC welterweight contender, pushed his bare-knuckle boxing record to 3-0 with a TKO win over former UFC middleweight champ Luke Rockhold, who made his debut.
Afterward, McGregor stepped inside the ring with a BKFC championship belt over his shoulder. The former UFC champ-champ shared some words with Perry before the two men engaged in a faceoff.
McGregor, who recently wrapped up filming as a coach on “The Ultimate Fighter 31,” is expected to return to the cage later this year against opposing coach Michael Chandler, although no date has been booked for the fight. McGregor, who’s fought before as a featherweight, has bulked up in size since recovering from his broken leg suffered in July 2021.
McGregor raved about BKFC while in the ring with Perry, who would like his chances if he got a shot at McGregor in the squared circle.
“I think I looked a little bit bigger, a little bit tougher,” Perry said. “I had a pump going on from the fight I just had. He had his suit on. It was covering up some of his muscles, but we looked very similar in size. I know he’s long and rangy. He’s my height-ish, so he’s going to be faster and sharper than Luke was. Can he hit as hard? Can my platinum jaw line take that left hand? I believe it can. It’s the same thing that happened to Luke, man. It’s just a matter of time when I close that range on you, and I land those devastating shots.”
