Mike Perry answers allegations, misses weight for UFC 255
Controversial welterweight Mike Perry drew a comparison between missing weight for his UFC 255 bout and the struggles in his chaotic life shortly after stepping off the scale Friday.
“I guess I’ve got a lot on my mind,” he said. “I can never quite make the weight outside of the UFC, either.”
Perry tipped the scales at 175.5 pounds, 4 over the allowable limit for his welterweight fight against Tim Means on Saturday’s pay-per-view card at the UFC Apex. Means will get 30 percent of Perry’s purse.
The card features two flyweight title fights. Deiveson Figueiredo puts his belt on the line against Alex Perez, and women’s champion Valentina Shevchenko takes on Jennifer Maia.
Some question whether Perry should be allowed to fight Saturday after several out-of-competition incidents and allegations.
“I’m just grateful for my opportunities, especially with all the things that seem to come against me, that I’m still here,” Perry said
His ex-wife, Danielle Nickerson, went public with domestic violence accusations last month, including a Feb. 10 incident in which she fled the house and was met by Perry’s mother, who called police. An audio recording surfaced in which Perry’s mother said she was “scared for her life.”
Perry was also involved in a July altercation inside a Texas bar, where he struck a man and could be heard using racial slurs.
UFC officials at the time said Perry would seek substance and behavioral counseling and would not return to competition until it was completed, a step Perry confirmed he had taken without going into detail.
Perry did deny the accusations of Nickerson, to whom he was married from September 2019 until March.
Perry is now in a relationship with Latory Gonzalez, who served as his lone cornerperson for a June victory over Mickey Gall despite no known MMA experience. Gonzalez, who is expecting the couple’s first child in January, is expected to be in Perry’s corner again Saturday.
Perry spent his childhood bouncing between his father’s home in Flint, Michigan, and his mother’s in central Florida. He has often cited his upbringing as having a strong influence on much of his attitude and language, including his controversial usage of certain racial slurs.
The 29-year-old, nicknamed Platinum, insists he’s not courting trouble in his personal life.
“You know, it seems like controversy just be happening sometimes,” he said. “Because if I try to do something (for attention), it’s really not going viral. But sometimes, something just takes off and I’m like, ‘Oh, well, how’d that happen?’’ And then I run into some trouble, and because I’ve been around fighting for a while now, people know who I am. So now there’s cameras on me when I get into trouble. So now I guess I’m just trying to grow up for my son and my baby mama and just trying to handle things like a man.”
The preliminary card begins at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2 and ESPN+, with the main card streaming through ESPN+ pay-per-view.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.