Jay Perrin is expecting a “war” against Aoriqileng, but plans to “make a statement” and make sure everyone knows he’s here to stay

Jay Perrin is expecting to look like a completely new fighter at UFC 278.

Perrin is coming off a loss to Mario Bautista in his Octagon debut, a fight which he took on short notice. Although he lost the fight, Perrin says he learned a lot from it and believes he proved he belongs with his performance.

“I think Mario will be a top-15 guy, look at what he just did to Brian Kelleher who is not an unknown,” Perrin said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “He’s got wins over Kelleher, he knocked out Miles Johns. He’s a legit top-15 guy so I’ve always been the guy who seeks out the hardest fight. But, that man didn’t finish me, he should’ve finished me on six days’ notice. A lot of people will say I didn’t win, and I didn’t but I know I can hang with people of that caliber. It proves to me that I belong in the UFC even though I lost.”

When Perrin will make the walk to the Octagon again at UFC 278, he will be facing Aoriqileng who’s coming off a first-round TKO win over Perrin’s teammate, Cameron Else.

Given that Aoriqileng just fought his teammate, Jay Perrin believes he will be well-prepared for him and knows how he will need to fight.

“I have watched Aoriqileng and he does look better at bantamweight so I’m not paying attention to what he did at 125,” Perrin said. “He hasn’t shown anything I haven’t seen, a fight is a fight and he has almost 40 fights, and what that shows me is you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. People don’t change how they fight after a certain amount and just add to it if they can.”

With Perrin believing he knows Aoriqileng well, he is confident he will be able to get the fight to the ground and get a submission win.

Yet, if Perrin can’t get the finish, he is hoping the fight will be a war and earn him a $50k bonus and prove to everyone he belongs in the UFC.

“I’ll probably get the choke, I don’t think his back defense is very good, I don’t think he is great on the ground. He’s very aggressive on the feet and that is his best chance to beat me. I know he’s tough, he’s durable, he’s tough to his face but nobody is tough to the body. I’m very ranged with my attack and I go between the body and head and can take him down in between the combinations if I want,” Perrin said. “If he stays the entire 15, cool but I’ll know quickly if he will be there for the entire 15 minutes, if he doesn’t I’ll happily make it Fight of the Night, I’m trying to make it $50k, and make it a war. I’m here to make a statement and make sure everyone knows I’m here to stay.”

Do you think Jay Perrin will beat Aoriqileng at UFC 278?