Last night, in the co-main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Pittsburgh, rising welterweight knockout artist “Platinum” Mike Perry picked up a big knockout win over Alex Reyes, who replaced Thiago Alves on short notice.
Shortly after this thudding KO victory, Perry made a clever callout of former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler.
“I worked my butt off for this,” Perry said in the Octagon. “It was supposed to be Thiago [Alves] in here. He ran from me, and now I think I deserve a top-10 [opponent]. I’ll give ya a name right now cause I know you’re gonna ask. Everybody wanna see me beat up Robbie Lawler.”
In a backstage interview with MMAJunkie.com, Perry explained this callout of Lawler. Apparently, it’s all about making opportunities for himself and continuing on to his goal of fighting the reigning champ.
“I want to fight the champ,” Perry said after his knockout win, which went down inside the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh and aired on FS1. “I want to fight to get that belt. And if you don’t ask, you won’t receive. So I may not get those fights, but I’m prepared for those fights as soon as they want to give them to me. We’ll see who wants to come to [UFC 218 in Detroit] and fight me.”
Would you be interested in seeing Mike Perry and Robbie Lawler duke it out in the cage? Who do you think would win?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 9/17/2017.