As we saw as far back as Rashad Evans and Keith Jardine, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) does not care if two fighters are friends, training partners, or associated in any way. If the fight makes sense and can sell tickets, it gets booked.
That’s how we ended up with Mike Perry vs. Donald Cerrone, who trained together as recently as this year.
While “Platinum” understands that “Cowboy” rolled out the red carpet for him, he also recognizes that he can only achieve the same status as Cerrone by defeating him — along with the rest of the guys making good money in the upper echelon of the division.
And besides, surfing is fun!
“Let’s get this money,” Perry told Submission Radio. “Let’s go. The guy was kind to me but the UFC does what they want. He took me out shooting guns, he took me out surfing on his boat, it was really nice of the guy. Now he’s probably like, ‘Wow, look at this asshole, he’s gonna come try and fight me now and take everything I work for.’ But he’s had all this, all this money, all this time, and we in the fight business so I’m trying to get that. I’m trying to get a damn boat too! So if you got that money, you got that notoriety, I’m gotta get it. I’m trying to come take it so I can get me a boat so I can go surfing when I want.”
Just don’t get that leash caught under a rock.
Perry (12-3) is known for some of the most exciting fights in the 170-pound division, but at the same time, has also struggled to find consistency in his UFC career. As of now, “Platinum” is 5-3 since joining the promotion roughly two years back and was last seen taking a split decision over Paul Felder at UFC 226.
As for Cerrone (33-11, 1 NC), he’s put together one of the more active records in recent memory and carved out quite the legacy at 155 pounds. Unfortunately, his trip up to welterweight has taken a humbling turn, as “Cowboy” dropped four of his last five, including last June’s unanimous decision loss to Leon Edwards.
Perry battles Cerrone in the UFC Fight Night 139 co-main event on Sat., Nov. 10, 2018 inside Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, live on FOX Sports 1.
See the rest of the fight card here.
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