Polarizing UFC welterweight striker ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry has set his stall out this Christmas. Hoping to return to winning ways in his next Octagon outing, the Flint, Michigan-born contender has noted his wish to meet with fan-favourite, Nate Diaz.
Perry, 29, most recently featured at UFC 255 in November — dropping his third loss in his most recent four professional appearances, failing to deal with the sharp hands of veteran all-rounder, Tim ‘The Dirty Bird’ Means. Initially scheduled to meet with former undisputed welterweight titleholder, ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler, Perry instead met with Means, dropping a unanimous decision defeat.
The 14-7 puncher slumped to 1-1 in 2020 via the result, having briefly returned to the win column at UFC Vegas 4 in June, taking home a unanimous decision result against grappler, Mickey Gall — with his partner, Latory Gonzalez infamously featuring as the only corner person flanking him to the Octagon.
Taking to his official Twitter account in the early hours of yesterday morning, Perry revealed his Christmas wish: a pairing with The Ultimate Fighter 5 lightweight victor, Diaz.
“On some real (weird) sh*t, wish I could fight @NateDiaz209 for Christmas.“
Out of action since his disputed third-round doctor’s stoppage defeat to recent welterweight title challenger, Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal at UFC 244 in November of last year at Madison Square Garden — Diaz has yet to feature since that BMF championship outing.
The Stockton fan-favourite who is also in need of a return to the winner’s enclosure in his next UFC appearance, announced his arrival back into contender status with a relatively comfortable unanimous judging win over former UFC and WEC lightweight best, Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis at UFC 241 in August of 2019.
Amid YouTuber Jake Paul’s recent, controversial callout of former two-weight world champion, ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor, Diaz, a two-time foe of the Dubliner jumped to the latter’s defence, claiming that Paul would get his “ass beat“ after he also targeted McGregor’s teammate and Bellator grappler, Dillon Danis during an interview in Los Angeles.