UFC Vegas 94 was dwarfed last Saturday night (July 20, 2024) by Jake Paul’s “Fear No Man” pay-per-view event in Tampa, Fla., which featured “El Gallo” taking on Mike Perry. Plenty of fighters were left licking their wounds, including Ashton Sylve, who was brutally knocked out by Lucas Bahdi in one of the nastiest finishes we have seen in a while (video replay here),
And Stevie Morgan, who was absolutely obliterated by Amanda Serrano in what had to be one of the most lopsided mismatches in recent memory (see it again here). But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Mike Perry.
Coming into the event, Perry — unsurprisingly — was talking up a good game as most people do when they face off against the man formerly known as “The Problem Child.” But once the action got started, it was clear where this fight was going.
In the opening round, Paul dropped “Platinum,” and then proceeded two do so on three more occasions for as long as the fight lasted. Perry did have a couple of shining moments, and showed his legendary toughness by staying in the pocket and absorbing one shot after another. There were even times when he was walking Paul down, but the disparity in skill level when it comes to boxing was apparent.
Eventually, Paul managed to put an end to the beating with an onslaught of strikes in the sixth round, giving him his tenth boxing win (full video here). But the loss was just the beginning of Perry’s bad night, as he was “fired” by Conor McGregor — co-owner of Bareknuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) — for his abysmal performance against a former Disney channel star.
Naturally, “Platinum” didn’t take the news all that well, revealing during the post-fight press conference that despite his threats, “Notorious” doesn’t have the authority to relieve him of his duties since he, too, is co-owner of the promotion.
“He doesn’t f—king have a promotion,” Perry said. “Me and him are both owners of BKFC, so he can’t fire me. We can fight in bare-knuckle. Look at me, I lost to Jake Paul. Why don’t you go fight Jake Paul in boxing with the gloves on? I think it would be worse than Conor McGregor vs. [Floyd] Mayweather,” he concluded.
Nevertheless, the loss to Paul is a quick reminder to fight fans as to why Dana White will never co-promote. In the blink of an eye, BKFC loses some of its credibility after its biggest star and “King of Violence” was dismantled by a man who barely started his combat journey a few years ago.
As far as what’s next for Perry, he will likely go back to the BKFC ring where he is undefeated at 5-0 with three TKO wins under his belt. He challenged McGregor and Paul to a fist fight under bareknuckle rules, but those two options will almost likely never happen. That said, care to offer up a suggestion or three?
For more results and highlights from the “Fear No Man” PPV card click HERE.