Mike Perry’s Next Opponent: The Taxman

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

After earning a hard fought win over Mickey Gall, ‘Platinum’ Mike Perry’s plans involve finding a new team … and paying his back taxes.

“Platinum” Mike Perry snapped a two fight losing skid on Saturday night by defeating Mickey Gall via unanimous decision at UFC on ESPN 12, dominating the bout on both the feet and the ground despite having no coaching him or in his corner but his girlfriend. And while it was a convincing enough win, it also came against a relatively inexperienced opponent.

Gall is now 6-3 in his career, with one single fight outside the UFC. When the promotion was looking for someone inexperienced enough to match with the MMA virgin CM Punk back in 2016, Gall got the call.

So great: you beat Mickey Gall. But can Perry carry that momentum against the rest of the sharks at welterweight without a team? The public “Platinum” persona Mike puts out might make it seem like he’s not thinking a whole lot about anything in particular, but after the win he admitted he’s looking to land somewhere new … and pay some back taxes.

“I gotta go find that team, I gotta make some moves,” Perry told Jon Anik during his post-fight interview. “I gotta take this money, I gotta move to a new area, me and my girl. And uh, there are some big things happening in my life and I’m gonna go put some things together, I gotta pay some bills, pay some debts.”

“I gotta talk to the tax folk and see if we can run that number down cuz I believe I paid out over $100,000 last year between a couple different countries and then they trying to hit me again at the end of the year. It’s like I don’t even fight for minimum wage sometimes. And look, I ain’t trying to be one of these guys asking for more money, I’m not. I’m asking for the government to stop taking so much of this!”

“So, you know what I mean, like, something gotta work out,” he finished. “Maybe we put in contract that the taxes is paid when Platinum is paid. Like, when I get paid, that’s it. That’s my money! Don’t give me money if you don’t want me to spend it then come back and ask me for something later. That makes no sense! I’m trying to wild out, bro. Mai tais on the beach.”

The only way to dig out of that hole (admittedly one that will keep refilling with sand, ask Francis Ngannou about that) is to keep winning. To keep winning he’ll need to sharpen his skills against other top fighters, and a perfect place to do that is American Top Team. Perry dropped a hint that he was headed back to South Florida after his win, and his manager Malki Kawa seemed to confirm ATT would be the spot.

Now the only question we have is if Perry can follow ATT’s recently imposed Covington law that states no s**t talking of teammates allowed. In his short tenure at JacksonWink in Albuquerque, he started a couple of beefs with the other welterweights in the gym. His current ronin status also seems to come from a place where he actively fights against the kind of training many of the larger, well respected camps are all about.

As always, it will be interesting seeing where this “Platinum” ride goes from here.