BKFC’s Mike Perry is unimpressed with how UFC is treating its fighters, especially when it comes to respect. For the former UFC fighter, the promotion’s true color could be seen in how it handles fighters like Merab Dvalishvili, Aljamain Sterling, and Henry Cejudo.
Perry is no longer under UFC, but this does not prevent the fighter from seeing the actual condition of the fighters in the promotion. In his recent appearance on the OverDogs Podcast, the fighter commented on the general issue involving the company’s treatment of its fighters and CEO Dana White’s view about the friendship between Dvalishvili and Sterling. To recall, the executive earlier called the decision of the two not to fight in order to respect their brotherhood a “mistake” in their careers. Perry, nonetheless, believes the company is subjective in observing this in other fighters on its roster.
“I heard Dana be like, ‘Yeah, ’cause he wouldn’t fight his friend, you know how much we f****** love that here,'” Perry said. “I was like, was that sarcasm, or was he serious? I thought sometimes they do f****** (fist gesture to mouth) on people who are like, ‘Oh my god, put ’em on a pedestal because he was doing the right thing, and he won’t fight his friend, but this guy over here is doing the same f****** thing, we’re gonna be mad at’ because why?
“They f****** pick and choose whoever the f*** they want, whenever the f*** they want. They do whatever the f*** they want, and no one can tell them anything about it. That’s where it’s f****** annoying, and I lose interest.”
The bare-knuckle fighter also criticized White for not acknowledging Cejudo’s plan for a retirement. To recall, the fighter shared that he would retire in case he lost at UFC 298. “Triple C” unfortunately did lose to Dvalishvili in the said event, but after the fight, the veteran was not given a moment with the mic. The executive later commented on the matter, saying that the fighter had already retired and that “if he wants to retire again, he could do that here or somewhere else.” Given Cejudo’s and other fighters’ contributions to the company, Perry thinks this kind of action speaks a lot about how the UFC views its talents.
“It’s funny because they make everybody look the same now, and they wanna be f****** NFL, NBA of combat sports, but they don’t f****** act like it,” Perry said. “They’re still f****** rude, disrespectful, rich a**holes who don’t give a f*** about these fighters or anyone who puts their life on the line to do this s***.”
