If nothing else was learned from UFC on ESPN 12, it’s that “Platinum” Mike Perry is truly one of a kind.
Whatever you think of the controversial fighter, he does things his way. For better or for worse. On Saturday, it wound up being the former. With no coaches and no corners other than girlfriend Latory Gonzalez, Perry (14-6) put in a solid effort against Mickey Gall. He even managed to hang with Gall on the ground, which had been the question mark heading in. On the feet, as expected, the hard-hitting Perry led by a wide margin.
With critics all over him heading into the fight, it seems like Perry might have been vindicated, at least a little. Perry, not one for flowery language, wasn’t entirely sure on the definition. “Proven right,” it was suggested at the post-fight press conference following UFC on ESPN 12.
“Yes, proven right is what it is tonight,” agreed Perry. “I feel awesome bro, I can’t lie. There was a lot of haters hating on us, hating on her and she’s so innocent and all this. And you know, obviously it’s cause I say things and I talk, from an entertainment side of the sport, and also like, because they be hating on me so hard, so I just talk back because it’s just, ugh. And then when she started getting it, you know, I was just really upset but I fed off that tonight.”
Though by the time he walked out to the octagon, Perry admitted, he was “blank. And that’s the way it should be. You react, you just go out there and you fight. The work is done. It’s time to go.”
Perry’s girlfriend Latory Gonzalez took a fair amount of abuse from the usual corners of the internet ahead of the fight. Asked what her response to it all was, Perry explained that “this is all kind of new to her man. You know, everybody loves her. So all these people hate her because of me. You know, it makes me feel kind of bad sometimes that I brought her into that. But that’s what happens when you get attention and people just start hating on it.”
“Platinum” gave Gonzalez top marks for her work between rounds, which amounted mainly to giving encouragement and applying ice. In comparison, Perry pointed to the fight before his, between Gian Villante and Maurice Greene.
“I remember Gian Villante going back to his corner and the coach was like ‘What are you doing? You’re not doing nothing!’ and it’s like ‘You ain’t doing nothing bro!’ You sitting on the outside, don’t come in here and— and then I think Michael Bisping was like ‘Oh that’s great coaching.’ No, that’s terrible! Don’t make the guy feel bad and down on himself,” an exasperated Perry exclaimed. “Amp him up or something. Come on, they’re heavyweights too. Like, what do you think he’s doing? He’s trying to not get knocked out! That should be first. I understand that we’re entertainers and we got to go out there and we got to fight, we got to put on a show. But you also, when you get in the octagon, you got a show purse, and you got a win bonus. That win bonus is more important than putting on that show.”
That speaks to the reason Perry didn’t have coaches on Saturday, he said. Too many haven’t been in his position. And the corner he did have, Latory, “spoke from a humble standpoint, on the outside. She kept it simple.”
With all that said, Perry isn’t done with coaches. “I’m going try to put a team together that we can work, for upcoming events,” he said. The current plan is to look for that in Florida. Possibly at American Top Team.
“I want to go to South Florida and work with Yoel Romero. Feel that 185 pound weight class,” Perry stated. “Man 170 is such a great place for me, but I want to fight Darren Till, I do want to fight that guy.”
“If I see him in person, I’m gonna fight him. Nobody’s gonna stop me,” Perry said about Till. The British fighter has been hounding “Platinum” on social media. “I’m gonna grab him. I’m gonna stick my finger in his eye and I’m gonna get a hold of me. I’ll say it out loud because I don’t care.”
Watch the full UFC on ESPN 12 post-fight press conference with Mike Perry above.
