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The newly minted Mike Perry
If you believe Mike Perry the former UFC brawler might need to upgrade his ‘Platinum’ nickname to ‘Gold’. Perry recently claimed he has a contract with BKFC worth $8 million. If that’s true, that would make his contract one of the richest in combat sports (outside of traditional boxing).
“I have to say they put about $8 million on contract,” Perry claimed in an interview with MMA fighting. “I’ll just go ahead and put that out there because fuck them, they’ve got to fight me now because I’m ready to make this money.”
“I got this money on paperwork, I got this house I’m paying for,” he continued. “I’ve got this family I’m paying for. I’ve got all these expensive things going on. I’m ready to fight, promote, talk some shit and punch some people in their face.”
Perry called out former UFC rival (and friend?) Darren Till
Another popular fighter who left the UFC for pastures new is Darren Till, the one-time UFC welterweight title challenger. He left the UFC in 2022 and has not let slip any details about when or where we’ll see him competing next (though it was once rumoured he would be popping up in Misfits Boxing).
Till recently took to X to share that he’d been focusing on his boxing and was feeling really good about it.
That prompted Perry to jump in and suggest they meet in BKFC. “Wouldn’t it be something if I rawdogged those cheeks,” wrote Perry.
Mike Perry and Darren Till’s frenemy saga
Mike Perry and Darren Till have discussed fighting each other in the past, though never very seriously. It always seemed like it was a fight Perry was eager to make happen, while Till (at the higher end of the UFC welterweight rankings) was focused on other things.
With the fight never seriously being in question, in the UFC at least, this lead to some comedic exchanges between the two.
One of the best things to come out of their past interactions is this animation created by Bloody Elbow’s own Case Harts. Please enjoy that below (and don’t forget to keep your Tetris shots up to date).
There was also a funny moment between the two, caught on camera this time, where a breakdown in communication had one fighter thinking he was being invited out for a massage while the other wanted to throw hands.
Much later the pair argued about how their sparring exchange went.
Though it seemed all fun and jokes in the above clips, at some point Till’s needling on social media (which included creating a website just to troll Perry) may have actually gotten under Perry’s skin.
With both men outside of the UFC, and both looking to stay active (and get a pay day), the chances of seeing them fight for real seem higher than ever. Perry last competed back April, defeating former UFC champion Luke Rockhold via injury TKO.
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