Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
If Dillon Danis doesn’t show up to fight Logan Paul in October, Mike Perry will be there instead.
On Tuesday during a wild pre-fight press conference to promote the upcoming card headlined by KSI vs. Tommy Fury, the UFC veteran and current BKFC star was announced as the official backup for the co-main event where Danis is scheduled to compete for the first time in four years. Danis had previously been matched up against KSI earlier this year but ultimately dropped off the card in the weeks leading up to the event.
Rather than risk that possibility happening again, Perry was retained as a backup to potentially face Paul on the card.
“I’m a real fighter,” Perry said on stage. “This is what I do. This is how I feed my family. These boys been getting money way other ways. They want some respect in this game so they called me here. Dillon doesn’t show up, I’m ready to fight.
“If they know me, my fans who know me and to the people who don’t, when you get Mike Perry on the card, you get the fight that you’re asking for.”
Perry even managed to have a faceoff with Paul after Danis already left the press conference.
Perry, who recently inked a new multi-fight deal to stay with BKFC, will actually serve as a backup for the second time in 2023 after he was hired as a potential opponent for Jake Paul or Tommy Fury when those two were scheduled to clash in February. The fight ultimately took place with Fury earning a split decision win so Perry’s services were not needed.
This time around, Perry will stay ready just in case Danis fails to appear for his fight against Paul.
“I’ve been training,” Perry said. “I stay fit. It’s a lifestyle for me. Logan’s a pretty big guy, these guys are a little heavier than where I usually fight. My last fight was at 185 [pounds], I cut like five pounds for that. I’m like 190 right now. I think the weight class would be 190, 195.
“As long as I’m in shape, I put the miles in, get some road work, lift some weights and do my boxing rounds like I love, I’ll be ready to show up if they need me. Let’s do it.”
While he’s recently been earning a paycheck as a bare-knuckle fighter, Perry actually scored a split decision win over professional boxer Michael Seals back in 2021 in a boxing-MMA hybrid fight promoted by Triller.
It remains to be seen if Perry’s services will be needed with Paul actually mocking Danis during the press conference for sitting out for over 1,000 days between fights.
If he doesn’t get to fight Paul in October, Perry sounds ready to welcome another MMA fighter turned boxer to the ring as well.
“Anthony Taylor been talking a lot of s*** on Twitter,” Perry said. “So he can get it, too. He was talking about the Misfits Boxing, he said he would come to bare-knuckle boxing. Listen, ya’ll got to see my bare-knuckle s***. I fought MVP — Michael ‘Venom’ Page — in this building one year ago. It was a banger.”’