How an epiphany helped Mike Perry transform from a UFC castoff to a combat sports star ahead of Jake Paul bout

In the world of combat sports, where the bizarre and obscene are often more expected than feared, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to see or hear something that actually shocks you. That’s why Wednesday’s interaction involving Mike Perry stood out in such a unique way. 

Perry (0-1 in boxing, 14-8 in MMA), a former UFC journeyman who has used the bareknuckle platform of BKFC (of all places) to become an unlikely pay-per-view star, was finishing up his media day ahead of Saturday’s high-profile boxing match against Jake Paul (9-1, 6 KOs) in Tampa, Florida (DAZN PPV).

When asked about the recent controversy surrounding boxing superstar Ryan Garcia, which includes — among a handful of outrageous moments — Garcia’s liberal use of racial epitaphs and religious slander, particularly against blacks and Muslims, the response from Perry was as surprising as it was refreshing.  

“It’s a free country, man. Freedom of speech is the first amendment,” Perry said. “But when you are talking business and being a role model with kids looking up to you, people need to be careful what they say because it can get you into a situation with someone who doesn’t care about rules and laws and will maybe even hurt you. You have to think about the bigger picture before you do those things.

“My kids, I don’t want them to have beef growing up because of their father so I definitely changed my ways. If it’s something that upsets an entire group of people that it just wouldn’t upset you to not do, what’s the big deal in just doing the right thing and what’s positive rather than getting on a whole group’s nerves?”

Wait a second? Are we still talking about the same Mike Perry? 

What happened to the “Platinum” version of Perry that combat sports used to know? Is this the same caucasian brawler who once justified his alarming use of the N-word by announcing that he had a “free pass” because of an unconfirmed DNA test he claimed could prove he was 2% African-American? And, is this the same man whose unchecked anger issues led him to everything from domestic violence allegations to multiple arrests for knocking out civilians in public, including an elderly man inside a Texas restaurant in 2020? 

In short, that Mike Perry grew up. He got married to his longtime girlfriend (and part-time UFC cornerwoman) Latory Gonzalez, and soon after, became a father of two young children: a three-year old son, Ocean, and the family’s latest edition, an infant daughter named Audyssey.

And after his tumultuous 15-bout UFC journey ended in 2021 with more losses than wins, it was Perry’s transition from MMA to the bareknuckle boxing space that produced one of the most unlikely star turns that combat sports has seen since the days of backyard brawler Kimbo Slice going “legitimate” through exciting runs in Elite XC, UFC and Bellator MMA. 

At 32, the new Mike Perry finds himself at the peak of his athletic prime with a new house and a substantial amount of money in the bank following five straight wins with BKFC, including victories over Michael “Venom” Page, Luke Rockhold and Eddie Alvarez that made him everything from a legit PPV star to the face of a new promotion and sport. 

Should he carry on his upset ways this weekend in his eight-round boxing match — while continuing to defy expectations as, once again, the smaller man against the 27-year-old Paul, who has spent much of his boxing turn feasting on past-their-prime MMA fighters — the combat sports world will literally be Perry’s oyster, with callouts of the biggest names in fighting (from Conor McGregor to Nate Diaz) a likely outcome.

“When I beat [Paul], we can ask him for a rematch if he wants it,” Perry told CBS Sports in June. “I don’t know if he will. I don’t know where he goes after this [and] I could care less. I might just go on a little vacation after this, that’s what I might do. I have been fighting and winning and I might go spend some of this money with my family.”

If you’re wondering how Perry went from pariah to fan-favorite, all in the span of three years since exiting UFC, you wouldn’t be alone. 

For much of Perry’s life, chaos and poverty was all he has ever known.

A native of Flint, Michigan, Perry’s youth saw him bounce around between 20-to-30 homes between the states of Michigan and Florida, with a very unstable family life to lean back upon. By his late teens, Perry was on his own and began to rob houses with friends in order to pay rent. 

At 19, Perry’s history of crime, which included a 2011 arrest for armed burglary, caught up with him when he was incarcerated for six months. But even though Perry enjoyed equal highs and lows once he exited prison and worked his way up to the highest levels of MMA, it was a post-UFC epiphany that likely played a big part in the more mature version in which Perry has evolved into over recent years. 

The epiphany in question surrounds Perry coming to terms with who he actually is — an aggressive brawler who can take big shots while outlasting his opponents — and relying on those skills to see how far he could take himself in BKFC. 

“I’ve been this happy since I had that epiphany and I told myself to be happy with who I am and what it is that I do great,” Perry said. “I have been so happy ever since I just chose to love myself and love everything that I’m good at. Gosh, I love my family. They are so beautiful to me and we are building something great here. I’m a provider and I have to take care of them. It makes fighting people for a paycheck a lot easier because it means I’m going to be taking care of my family.

“I have been getting my training and just enjoying my life and making workouts out of it. I had the family on the pontoon yesterday while I was on the kayak. My babies were all cheering me on while I was paddling down the ocean.” 

Perry’s transformation hasn’t completely muted his often non-politically correct ways. But it has made him a fan favorite to the same combat sports fan who once looked at him as a ticking time bomb whose return to incarceration felt more like an inevitability. 

But the key aspect of Perry’s success these days is that while he has cleaned things up in his personal life and began to enjoy the spoils of domestic bliss, it hasn’t stopped him from being the same explosive menace within the fighting circle. In fact, Perry is well aware of how many fighters, once they have tasted financial success, tend to lose their edge as competitors and it’s because of that why he still embraces the natural anger that still flows inside of him. 

Part of that, of course, is strategic. The other part is that Perry simply doesn’t know any other way. 

“I just get angrier and angrier if you hit me because anger is where I’m truly happy,” Perry said. “I get happy and joy being pissed off. I’m pissed all the time for no reason. It’s a constant battle [with] men’s mental health awareness. I like to take breaks and like to try and go back and be a human being, a father and a husband. I try to make jokes and laugh at myself sometimes. 

“But everything has changed because I do have everything. I am very comfortable [in life] but I still like to get down and dirty to the nitty gritty. I like to get back down to my roots and I never forgot where I came from.” 

It isn’t lost on Perry that part of him being the fan favorite this weekend is because of how much Paul is looked at as a disruptor in combat sports after his transition from being a YouTube sensation and teenage Disney actor to becoming a (somewhat) legitimate boxer. But it’s clear that fans are also cheering for Perry, the father and husband, to continue to defy the odds by cashing huge checks and searching out the kind of dream matchups once thought to be impossible for a fighter with a losing UFC record. 

“I worked so hard for this. This is not just another day in the office for me,” Perry said. “I thrive off of the pressure. I live for this. I have been getting paid millions of bucks fighting people. I have been doing this a long time so this money fight ain’t nothing new to me. I need $20 million. I ain’t got enough yet. I’ve got to check that off my box list and get my mansion and my yacht and bring my family on the boat everyday. 

“And you ain’t taking that from me, bro! I’m so hungry! It’s the ‘Platinum’ panty night. I am the money fight. I have been saying this. And my wife has a drawer of them ‘Platinum’ panties, if you will. We wear them every weekend.”