'It ain’t no [expletive] science class': Mike Perry explains decision to fight without a coach
LAS VEGAS — Mike Perry has spent a long time airing grievances, blasting some of his former coaches, other fighters and fans who apparently talk badly about him online but are different when they see him in person.
The UFC welterweight, who looks to end a two-fight losing streak Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) in the co-main event at Apex when he takes on Mickey Gall, would rather be doing anything except what he’s up to: He’s in the middle of a string of interviews on the phone.
“I get all these stupid [expletive] questions and it’s like, ‘I didn’t come here to [expletive] talk. Why am I even doing this [expletive]?’ I came here to [expletive] fight and knock some [expletive’s] head the [expletive] off,” he said. “It’s like when that guy asked Joe Rogan, ‘What’s the practical use of jiu-jitsu?’ and he said, ‘If we get in a fight, I’ll kill you.’
“Over the phone, I can’t put my hands on your [expletives]. I get paid to go in there and fight. When I’m out, spending that fight money, enjoying my life, nobody ever says [expletive] to me. They say hi and they try to [expletive] waste my time, asking for pictures and a bunch of other dumb [expletive]. If it’s like a grown man, I feel like, ‘I know you’ve been on social media talking [expletive], boy.’ If it’s like some kid and he looks up to me, well, it’s how you should think, bro. People are out to get you. People want what you got. People want to take from you. They’re miserable with their bum lives and they want what you’ve got.”
Perry won’t use any coaches for his fight with Gall other than his new girlfriend, Latory Gonzalez, because he said he saw no value in them. He said he made it to the UFC doing things his own way and said he got no value out of a coach giving him advice in the middle of a fight.
He said after his fight with Vicente Luque, he watched the replay on television. Something that former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping said during the broadcast resonated with him.
“You know what I learned from the Vicente Luque fight?” Perry said. “It was after the fight and I watched the fight later on TV. Michael Bisping said something on TV where I had double underhooks on the fence and he said, ‘Here, I would Gable grip my hands together and pull in the lower back.’ I was like, ‘Look at that. Nobody said that to me.’ That’s what I mean. These coaches aren’t doing anything other than taking the best seat in the house.”
So for the Gall fight, Perry has opted only to have Gonzalez in his corner. He had some training partners, but he ran his camp the way he wanted and didn’t worry about a coach giving guidance.
He won his first two UFC bouts and four of his first five before going on the 2-5 skid he’s on now.
He said in the off-chance the fight gets to the second round, all he wanted was a kiss from Gonzalez and for her to tell him, “Go get him.”
“I am the one fighting, not these coaches,” Perry said. “I might as well do it my way. My way is the way that got me here. I used to teach a cardio kickboxing class at a UFC gym. That’s where I was when I got to the UFC. Then, it was my way. Once I got with a team, with the same guys every day, they can’t take you beating on them and when you loosen up and try to show them something and be a good teammate, it’s when you develop bad habits.
“It’s a fight, bro. It ain’t no [expletive] science class. Get in there, hit him in the [expletive] face and get out. If they take it, hit them again and keep [expletive] hitting them until the referee pulls me off. And you know what, this time, I may not even stop when the ref pulls me off. He’s talked all this time and now it’s fight time and you want to be nice, to be friends? Come on, get out of here with that [expletive]. I’m still talking [expletive]. That’s how I am and that’s how I’ll always be.”
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