Mike Perry thinks Thiago Alves ducked him - ‘He is feeding y’all bullsh*t’

Mike Perry was expecting to climb the UFC’s welterweight ladder tomorrow night (Sat., Sept. 16, 2017) at UFC Fight Night 116 live on FOX Sports 1 from inside PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa., before news broke earlier this week that his co-main event opponent, Thiago Alves, had been forced to pull out of the fight. Now, “Platinum” is left to welcome an unknown prospect to the UFC rankings, which offers little upside for his divisional aspirations.

Alves has since revealed that complications stemming from Hurricane Irma in Florida were the reasons why he was unable to make it to Pittsburgh. This came a few days after the UFC veteran decided to stay in Florida to train instead of flying north early and avoiding the massive storm.

While Alves’ excuse seems legitimate, Perry isn’t buying it. Instead, the hard-hitting welterweight contender believes that “Pitbull’ got cold feet late and did everything in his power to duck the co-main event bout.

“That’s bullsh*t. I came from Florida, we got more f*cked up than he did,” Perry said in an interview with Fansided. “There are so many people here from South Florida. I was just talking to Michael Johnson. His coaches from [American Top Team] down there, are here today. They flew up yesterday when he was supposed to. He is feeding y’all bullsh*t. He don’t want to fight, he doesn’t want to retire yet and I was going to put him to sleep. It’s simple as that. Does he get the opportunity to fight me after I smash [Alex Reyes]? They need to get me a top-10 opponent after this.”

Despite respecting late-replacement Alex Reyes for stepping up on short notice and taking the high-profile bout on FS1, Perry believes he should be rewarded for giving someone else a shot in the wake of Alves’ pullout.

“This is bullsh-t. Three days and I get some chump everybody expects me to beat,” Perry said. “I think he is a tough guy cause he took the fight, he is a black belt and must have some type of game plan for me but it’s not going to matter. I’m going to smash this guy, simple as that. So, why would I take a fight with Thiago [Alves] again and expect him to pull out three days before, you know what I mean? Maybe the fight will happen, maybe it won’t, but I think I deserve a top-10 after this because I’m giving somebody a shot and they need to give me another shot.”

While many people are expecting Perry to punch his way past Reyes (a natural lightweight), a win is a win inside of the Octagon. Knocking off the UFC newcomer would give “Platinum” a divisional record of 4-1 and immediately land him a top 15 opponent next time out.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Fight Night 116 fight card, starting with the FOX Sports 1 "Prelims" matches at 8 p.m. ET, before the main card start time at 10 p.m. ET, also on FOX Sports 1.