Mike Perry went to war with Eddie Alvarez at BKFC 56, but it turns out four minutes just wasn’t enough for him.
Despite another impressive victory to move his bare-knuckle boxing record to 4-0, the new “King of Violence” actually wanted more out of Alvarez, who couldn’t continue past the second round once his coaches stopped the fight. Afterward, Alvarez revealed that he likely suffered a broken orbital bone that caused massive swelling around the left side of his face, but Perry really hoped his foe would answer the bell to give him five full rounds of fighting.
“I had fun with Eddie but it happened exactly how I said it was going to happen,” Perry said at the BKFC 56 post-fight press conference. “I posted that Kimbo Slice picture of that backyard fight. What did he say? He said, ‘You’ve got to hit me, come on!’ I wanted Eddie to hit me once. He hit me and then I started moving and he stopped hitting me.
“By the end of the second, what happened? He got busted up worse than I did. I know I may have got a little busted up but I smiled at him when he did it. I had fun in there. That’s exactly what the ‘King of Violence’ is.”
Prior to the fight, Perry said he couldn’t show Alvarez respect because they were about to beat each other up, which is exactly what happened once they started trading shots in the center of the ring.
As much as he may actually admire Alvarez for his career accomplishments, Perry still wanted more than what he ultimately showed.
“Yes and no,” Perry responded when asked if he respects Alvarez now. “Because it still was another second-round victory. There was three more rounds in regulation and not to mention the sudden death. I live for this s***. I want all of it. I want somebody just like me, who can meet me in the middle for five two-minute rounds.
“I want a fight that’s going to give me those five f****** rounds of hell. It’s easy to talk but I just did it and I was just warming up. Four minutes, I was just getting started. There was six more minutes of hell I had to bring out. I was ready, I was just getting going.”
While speaking at the press conference, Perry heard callouts from a couple of current BKFC champions, including David Mundell, who he previously defeated twice in MMA, as well as two-division title holder Luis Palomino.
Because Perry commands so much attention whenever he competes, he really wants a counterpart to carry some of the weight for the promotion, and right now he just doesn’t see a lot of that from the current crop of fighters already in BKFC.
“I think that whoever the company wants to match me up with needs to have a certain amount of followers, a certain amount of hits on social media, on the internet, that are going to get people to tune in,” Perry said. “It can’t just be one-sided. It can’t just be me selling the hell out of the fight. It can’t just be that way. It has to be a two-sided affair.
“I’m in the position I’m in because I’ve been to places that you guys have not. I do respect you guys because you do have the experience here and let’s not forget, my first bare-knuckle fight was against a very experienced Julian Lane. Yeah, it was a good fight and it taught me a lot, but I’ve moved beyond and past. Whatever the company wants to do, if they send it, I’ll be happy to fight whoever.”
In an ideal world, Perry mentioned Conor McGregor as a dream opponent, although that fight will likely never happen due to the Irish superstar’s exclusive contract with the UFC.
With that option unavailable, Perry turned his attention to another former UFC champion who might be interested in crossing over for a bare-knuckle fight.
“One name that didn’t come to mind that did mention before I fought Alvarez was Anthony Pettis,” Perry said. “I think that’s an amazing fight. He just beat Roy Jones Jr. in a boxing match. I think he’s intrigued by the bare-knuckle aspect.
“I know that there’s huge opportunities. We’re creating some even. I said I want Anthony Pettis because he said he wants it and he’s ‘Mr. Showtime’ and he’s flashy. But I also want a fight that isn’t going to quit.”
