EXCLUSIVE | Mike Perry Reflects on Cerrone Loss, Looks to the Future
The UFC’s 25 Anniversary event in Denver left fight fans with several amazing moments etched into their psyche. One of them of course being the devastating arm bar executed by Colorado native Donald Cerrone against former teammate Mike Perry.
Following the submission loss against Cerrone, Perry has been nothing short of gracious. Speaking with BJPENN Radio earlier this week, “Platinum” gave an update on the condition of his arm, and what went wrong in regards to game plan execution.
“It’s swollen, man. It’s bigger than my right arm. It’s f**ked up, I can’t lie.” Perry stated. “I can’t make any fast motions with it or it hurts a lot. I’m about to get an MRI tomorrow. I got a x-ray done yesterday, but I felt like that was going to be pointless. I know when I said, ‘yo, you broke my arm,’ he really did break it because I couldn’t use that bitch at all. To me, that’s a broken arm.”
“It was like it was backwards, and then he rubbed it side to side and kept twisting it. Like he said, it was like tearing a chicken wing off, like tearing the meat off a chicken wing. That’s what he was doing. I should have fucking picked him up higher and dropped him. No, but Cowboy’s the man, bro. He did his thing.”
When asked if he could feel the exact point where the break/tear occurred during the scrap, Platinum replied, “I felt it about six times. When I slammed him, it popped once. It was a white belt mistake picking up a black belt like that and slamming him soft. I should have fucking picked him above my head and tried to kill him or something. It was like it was backwards, and then he rubbed it side to side and kept twisting it. Like he said, it was like tearing a chicken wing off, like tearing the meat off a chicken wing. That’s what he was doing. I should have fucking picked him up higher and dropped him. No, but Cowboy’s the man, bro. He did his thing.”
Perry continued, “I can’t do shit with this arm. I can’t do nothing one-armed. It’s going to heal. People have been arm barred before and probably held on longer than I did. I was baffled man, to be honest, because I get out of that shit all the time. I hadn’t been doing rounds with really good black belts trying to choke me out. I was just trying to strike with people, put people on the fence. He wouldn’t let me put him on the fence. And then, the counter opened up. That was the takedown. I was strong and in place. I got the takedown, and then I hadn’t been working the top position well enough. I’m going to drill it. I’m going to get on my jiu-jitsu shit, like top position like Matt Hughes or GSP.”
Of course, so much of this human chess game is a mental endeavor, and as we’ve seen in the past, Mike Perry has never lacked that brand of fortitude. However in the matchup against his former Jackson-Wink teammate, Perry did feel as though he wasn’t in the correct cerebral real estate.
“A lot of it was mental. It was mindset. It was not believing that I deserved to win, you know? [I] should have got hit a little bit. Should have got hit so that I could get going. He didn’t throw much because when you throw you’re susceptible. You’re open. There’s a counter. That’s what I look for. That’s what I’m amazing at. He jabbed me twice because I was hoping he would throw one more punch. That second punch would have lit him up.”
Regardless of what went wrong, as always Perry has been congratulatory of his opponent, and even had some fun with the aftermath.
Perry went on to say he believes his style of promotion and fighting brings out the best of his opponents and that may be to his own detriment.
“I told Cowboy, ‘Thank you for the opportunity,’ and he said I put the fire back in him. Because that’s what I do. I said that at the press conference. You got to be careful with your words. I was like, ‘I want to get in my opponent’s head and get the best out of them. I’m trying to be better.’ Maybe that will work out for me, but maybe I should have played a better mental warfare that made him worse, not better. I always make my opponents f**king good, and then I go chase them in the ring, you know what I mean? Martial arts is all defensive. If a guy would chase me and think that he can knock me out, I feel more confident in defensive skills and counters, like hitting him with elbows would be easier if he was coming forward.
“That’s why Cowboy says he likes to go in there, shake your hand like a man, and then fight you, like use technique. It’s like sparring to him if he can do that. We brought our mean faces, but he already knew some type of level of comfort. I don’t know how comfortable he was, but it doesn’t matter. It was like, it was pretty clean, the whole fight was up until the point where it was over. Yeah, but all that matters is the next one.”
When asked if he holds any ill will towards his opponent as the bad blood between Cerrone and Mike Winklejohn continues, Perry seems to prefer no involvement in the matter and focused on himself. He responded, “Absolutely not. I would go train with him, but I don’t know if that would matter or whatever, you know? I’d get, what, some jiu-jitsu with him? For what, you know what I mean? I’d just go flow and drill with Jacare in Florida a little bit. I got Frank out here for the pads, and go travel back and forth between, and find a balance between my jiu-jitsu training and my kickboxing training.
“I’m happy, bro. It almost seems like when he broke my arm he broke relief or something. What if I said that that wasn’t my fight? That was BMF Ranch Cowboy Cerrone versus JacksonWink, and deep down inside maybe I didn’t want to win it enough? You need to find a reason to win, but that’s no reason for me to get arm barred. I could lose a decision just having fun dancing in there in the fight. But when you get caught and then you feel the pain like that … I mean, he made me scream. I was like ‘TAP!’ and then the ref called it, and then I kind of tapped.”
Remaining positive and looking ahead to his undoubtedly bright future as a prize fighter, “Platinum” plans to heal his arm, get back to training and continue his journey as a martial artist. He closed out our conversation stating that he hopes others can learn from his mistakes.
“I appreciate the people who are willing to take their time like this right now and hopefully learn something from me because losing, I feel like my mind is so open to learning right now, but it’s weird because I can’t go in the gym and do it. I look forward to fighting for years to come and entertaining the world. Appreciate you, BJ Penn Radio, talking to me. Man, let’s just travel the world and train with the best and beat people up and win from now on.”
Give Mike Perry some love, Penn Nation!
11/18/18
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Exclusive MMA Interviews Mike Perry UFC
