Mike Perry hopes his faceoff with Conor McGregor at BKFC 41 leads to a fight between them down the line.
Whether that’s realistic or not remains to be seen, but Perry certainly has more freedom than McGregor with his career, because “Platinum” revealed he’s a free agent following his second-round TKO of Luke Rockhold in Saturday’s main event at 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colo.
“What’s next for me? Conor McGregor,” Perry said at the BKFC 41 post-fight press conference following his surprise faceoff with McGregor.” He likes to box, too. We can go throw hands. He gave me a faceoff. How cool was that? That’s what’s up. I’m real humble, to be honest, because I’ve been fighting a long time. I’ve been in some ups and downs and some tough fights. Some things didn’t go my way. These guys are coming over here and fighting me at what seems to be my best attributes. I’ve got a chin, I’ve got some hands and this is bare knuckle. People don’t like getting hit with that. So whoever wants the smoke, dog.”
Perry said he greatly enjoys his position with BKFC after moving to 3-0 under the promotion’s banner. He wants to continue to climb the ranks, but recognizes the money he commands puts the promotion in a tricky position as far as matchmaking.
With his contract complete, though, Perry seems to have the leverage in his favor.
“The fight’s got to make sense for them and the money they’re paying me,” Perry said. “The money’s got to make sense for them and make sense for me. They’re like, ‘Do you want belts or do you want money?’ Well, I want to feed my family. I gave myself a belt and man I’m putting more credit – put some respect on me and the ‘Platinum’ bareknuckle boxing belt, because dammit, I’m doing it out here. I’m up in the air because that was my last fight on contract. I’m free from everybody, but I love bareknuckle boxing.”
After getting stunned with an early shot by former UFC and Strikeforce champion Rockhold in their headlining contest, Perry stated to find his flow and create damage. He landed some big shots in the second frame, cracking Rockhold’s teeth and forcing him to bow out of the fight, resulting in the TKO stoppage.
Perry admits he was stunned by the way it unfolded, but was happy to get the win.
“I was ready for another round and I was just shocked because I was like, ‘Man, that was too easy after all that hard work,'” Perry said. “I think I was just getting into the fight, I was just digging into them body shots. He wasn’t liking them. I jabbed him once and he didn’t like it.”
