Getty Daniel Cormier & Jon Jones
Former UFC welterweight Mike Perry is riding the high of his latest bare-knuckle victory, and he recently called out former light heavyweight king Jon Jones.
On Saturday, “Platinum” stepped into the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship ring for the second time and he drew Bellator MMA staple Michael “Venom” Page. It was a tit-for-tat war that ended up going an extra round to determine a victor. And as history has it, Platinum won the sixth frame on the judges’ scorecards.
After the bout, he called out Jake Paul. And during an appearance on Wednesday’s “The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani, Perry added to his opponent wish list by challenging “Bones.”
“I haven’t seen Jon in a while, so if Jon Jones wants to come beat me up in bare-knuckle, I’d be down,” Perry said via MMA Fighting. “That’s my boy. I love fighting, man. I want to fight the best.”
Of course, Jones is under contract with the UFC and he’s currently preparing to make his heavyweight debut. He recently hinted on Twitter that he was looking at UFC 282 on December 10th as a possible return date. Jones hasn’t competed inside the Octagon since UFC 247 in February 2020 when he bested Dominick Reyes to retain his 205-pound belt.
Perry Believes a Bout Between Him & Paul ‘Makes a Lot of Sense’
During the interview with Helwani, Perry pointed to Paul having multiple fights fall through for a scheduled event at Madison Square Garden in New York City earlier this month.
The event was canceled and although “The Problem Child” recently tweeted that he agreed to box an unnamed fighter in October, Perry continued to call for a match with the social media superstar.
“I think it makes a lot of sense,” Perry said. “He keeps losing opponents – I always show up for my fights. I have a lot of attributes that he likes to compete against, UFC fighter, MMA fighter, shorter guy, smaller in weight, tough, and some people would stay stiff, or don’t move my head. And I just beat a titan in combat sports. You want to solidify yourself, you want to prove it to yourself and people, box me. … You think you’ve got something on me, prove it.”
Paul & Perry Sparred for 6 Rounds in 2021
Paul and Perry sparred last year, but both men have recounted the experience differently. The Problem Child has said that he handled Platinum easily, whereas Perry said he was just warming up.
“He was getting tired dealing with me, and if he had an eight-round fight lined up and he only sparred six rounds with me,” Perry continued. “If I’m fighting an eight-round fight, I want to do an eight rounds, if not more. If you stopped early, it’s because I was getting the better of you in the later rounds.
“Yes, you can come out, and you hit me like a sniper in the beginning, sure. But I kind of wanted him to hit me, I wanted to feel what that Jake Paul punch felt like, and it wasn’t that big of a problem. There was no pain, I just wanted to feel the punch, like, ‘Oh yeah, you hit me with your best shot, I’m still here, baby, I’m coming after you.’”