Luke Rockhold puts Mike Perry in rear-naked choke during BKFC 41 press conference face off

Luke Rockhold and Mike Perry had a wild face-off at the BKFC 41 press conference earlier today.

The build to their light-heavyweight clash on Saturday has been a wild one. The five-round headliner will be the former UFC middleweight champion’s first fight in bare-knuckle boxing. Ahead of his debut in the promotion, Rockhold has predicted that he will score a highlight-reel knockout win over ‘Platinum’.

For his part, Perry has predicted a stoppage victory of his own on Saturday. The fan-favorite exited the UFC in 2021 following a loss to Daniel Rodriguez, but he’s since found success in the BKFC ring. In his two appearances in the promotion, Perry has scored decision wins over Julian Lane and Michael ‘Venom’ Page.

Nonetheless, the two UFC veterans have had a lot of fun in the build to the fight. While they’ve had a lot of trash talk, a lot of it has seemingly been in a light-hearted fashion. That was perfectly illustrated at today’s press conference for the BKFC 41. Following the presser, Rockhold and Perry had a face-off which quickly got wild.

Luke Rockhold and Mike Perry’s wild BKFC 41 press conference face-off

The face-off began with Luke Rockhold and Mike Perry unsurprisingly talking a lot of trash. ‘Platinum’ mimicked like he would strike the former UFC middleweight champion with the title over his shoulder. Luckily, Perry didn’t, and the two went to face the crowd.

During that sequence, the former UFC titleholder went behind his opponent and locked up a rear-naked choke. While Dave Feldman was likely a bit spooked by the interaction at first, the two quickly revealed that they were both joking, as Perry and Rockhold began cracking up after the choke attempt.

Your #BKFC41 headliner right here!

Mike Perry and Luke Rockhold stare each other down, and Perry offers to let Luke Rockhold take a photo with the belt. pic.twitter.com/O63L3cfv4E

— FITE (@FiteTV) April 27, 2023

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