Mike Perry believes he would have been a UFC champion by now. If he fought in the lower weight classes, that is.
Perry is one of the most exciting fighters in the promotion with 11 of his 13 career wins coming by way of knockout. However, “Platinum” is enduring a rough patch right now with five defeats in his last seven outings.
His last knockout win came back in 2017 when he faced short-notice opponent Alex Reyes while Perry also suffered his first-ever defeat by knockout when he was TKO’d by Geoff Neal at UFC 245 in December.
If instead, Perry moved down to lightweight — the weight class which he first started competing in — things would be different according to him:
“I could easily be champ if I could fight in any weight class lower than welterweight but I got too much power to get down there with you little guys.”
That remains to be seen though Perry did hint at a move down to lightweight as recently as last month.
Interestingly, UFC lightweight Paul Felder responded to Perry asking him how much he currently weighed:
Perry defeated Felder via split decision when the latter moved up a weight class on short notice back in the summer of 2018.
Maybe “The Irish Dragon” — who suffered a broken arm during that fight — is looking for a rematch at 155 pounds?
What do you make of Perry’s claim?