Former UFC fighter turned BKFC superstar Mike Perry has wagered a whopping $50,000 on one of the big underdogs at UFC 302 this weekend.
UFC 302 goes down on Saturday, June 1 from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey; headlined by Islam Makhachev defending his lightweight title against fan-favorite veteran Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier.
Mike Perry wagers $50,000 on Paulo Costa to beat Sean Strickland
Whilst Mike Perry has been making headlines recently as he continues to trade barbs with controversial combat sports personality Dillon Dannis, the former UFC star is now putting his money where his mouth is.
Ahead of UFC 302 this weekend, Perry revealed on Instagram that he’s wagered a whopping $50,000 on Paulo Costa to defeat former champion Sean Strickland at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
According to Perry, there’s now a staggering $140,000 on the line for the co-main event.
The wager is likely in response to Costa’s UFC 302 opponent calling his beloved BKFC promotion ‘trash’ during his pre-fight media day interviews.
“I don’t want to go f***** be one of those a***** who goes and fights bare-knuckle [boxing],” stated Strickland, adding “I guess if they paid me enough, I’d do it. I mean, how much you gotta pay to go fight a man without gloves on? Nothing they would pay me [would be enough].
“Bare-knuckle, you want to talk about f***** crooks, dude. They’re paying their guys s***. Bare-knuckle is one of those organizations where like you hear these numbers, it’s all bull****.
“If you look at the lowest rung of the guys, they’re breaking their hands, breaking their orbitals and they’re making a couple thousand bucks. Bare-knuckle is f***** trash.”
Whilst Perry will be backing Costa to get the job done on Saturday evening, the fan-favorite Brazilian brawler has far more on the line as he chases another shot at the middleweight title.
At the pre-fight press conference last night, Costa “I’m going to get his place, I’m going to get his number, I’m going to be the number one contender after I beat him.”
Costa and Strickland were surprisingly jovial at the press conference
Whilst both Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa are known for their hilarious, if not divisive, moments on social media and the UFC microphone, the pair were surprisingly jovial with each other throughout the pre-fight press conference.
The same can’t be said for Makhachev and Poirier, who almost came to blows during their own face-off.
In one exchange, Costa teased that he has a “I have a more well-rounded fighting” style than Strickland, and that he’s the more technically advanced fighter out of the two.
“I have kicks and I can even bring this fight to the ground. I think he’s more basic. I think he’s very good at what he does, which is move forward, but I have my tools. I will show you on Saturday.”
In response, Strickland argued “I don’t know how much secret juice Paulo has, but the only shot you have is you better get f***** lucky.
“You better hope that God is in your favor because I’m going to f**** beat your f***** d*** into the dirt. But don’t worry, I’m not going to f*** you like Izzy did.”
UFC 302 goes down this weekend, with Strickland vs Costa in support of the highly anticipated main event clash between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier.