Mike Perry är fortsatt obesegrad efter förra helgens UFC 204 mot Danny Roberts och han tänker bli tvåsiffrig innan året är slut.
För den allra första gången under karriären gick en match ända in i den tredje ronden för den obesegrade amerikanske welterviktaren Mike Perry (9-0) då han besegrade engelsmannen Danny Roberts (13-2) via knockout 20 sekunder kvar av matchen på UFC 204 i Manchester. Dock var han beredd på att det skulle bli en svårare fight än vanligt så han är nöjd med resultatet.
”I wanted to fight somebody who really wanted to get into a fucking fight and I got that,” sade Perry till FloCombat. ”I had a great time. I was having fun in there. There are some things I will go away and work on, but that was the first time I’ve been made to go to the third round. I was proud of my performance. I got the job done and it took a little longer than expected, but I like how it happened.”
”I’m always prepared for a fight. I train to be in fights like that. I train hard and I never slack off. It wasn’t the first time I’ve needed to dig into all the things I’ve been doing in training. I stayed relaxed. I had a little fire under my ass because I knew I had to pull something out him being from England and all and the fight being close. The finish came and I took it.”
Han fick inte direkt något vänligt mottagande av publiken i Manchester Arena, som av förståeliga skäl höll på landsmannen Roberts. Men i slutet hade han bevisat för publiken vilken fighter han är och han vann över deras kärlek.
”It was a helluva fight. I feel like I’d had just won Fight of The Night and me and Danny had just put on a show. I wanted people to see that, to see what the fuck was in front of them on the screen. I’ve been waiting for a UFC fighter like me. I go to fight, I show up. The type of fights I put on are the type of fights I like to watch.
”I go to entertain and I know I entertained those people because when I walked in, they booed me and yelled for him. I don’t blame them because that’s their boy, but they did not boo me when I won that fight. I just won over 15,000 people, and I loved every fucking minute of it, man. They are great fans, and they went to enjoy a great fight. Who doesn’t love a great fight?”
Vill ha match i december
Perry är ute efter en femte match detta år vilket skulle bli hans tredje match i UFC. Han tänker vara försiktig med att utmana fighters för match, speciellt de lite högre rankade namnen. Innan dess vill han rada upp ett gäng vinster för att på riktigt etablera sig i welterviktsdivisionen.
”I want another fight in December. I talked to my manager and he will take care of that as far as I’m concerned. I’m looking for another win, another paycheck and I’m going to put on another show. It doesn’t matter who they put in front of me, I even said I wanted the winner of Gall versus Northcutt, but I just did that because it was funny and there was a meme to go with it.”
”Of course I want to say names I’d destroy in the top 15. I could say give me Neil Magny, Johny Hendricks–I’d beat both these guys, but they are coming off losses. Even if I call these names out, they won’t pay me what I deserve because I’m calling them out and I’ll get paid what I’m making right now. I need to get to a place where the UFC start offering me big names, so I can say I’ll take the fight but only for the right money.”
En annan anledning till varför han inte tänker utmana de större namnen än är att han i nuläget inte skulle få de pengar som match mot ett stort namn brukar ge. Han använder en stege som bild för detta.
”That’s when everything becomes business. It’s hard to take business and pride and put them together in a pot to create something delicious. You got to have pride. You can’t go call out No. 1 and get paid eight grand for it–fuck that.”
”I want to climb the ladder. I want to be 40-0; I want to be 50-0 when I retire. I want to climb the ladder and beat all of these chumps and make all the money I can. This has been the perfect start [in the UFC] for me. I’m a man of God, and I believe he will get me where I need to go. I follow him faithfully, and I believe everything he puts in front of me. It’s been perfect so far.”
Vem vill ni se honom möta i nästa match?
Foto: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
