Mike Perry is confident he has an edge over Eddie Alvarez ahead of their bareknuckle clash, but Alvarez thinks Perry is making a big mistake underestimating him.
The two fan-favorite fighters meet in the main event of BKFC 56 on Dec. 2 in Salt Lake City. It’s a highly anticipated bout, as both Perry and Alvarez are two known brawlers in the MMA world, and both have managed to carry that over into bareknuckle boxing.
Perry expects to put in a good show for the fans, but does believe Alvarez is overmatched heading into the contest.
“There’s only one way to win this fight, and that’s easy work, putting my knuckles on his face,” Perry told MMA Junkie Radio.
Alvarez says the opposite about Perry and expects a hard fight.
“He’s going to be tough, he’s going to be tough,” Alvarez said in the same interview. “The guy takes shots and keeps coming. I’m never going to call the guy easy work. I think that was silly to call me easy work, but we’ll see. Maybe that’s how he truly feels, considering his training regimen and who he’s going against and whatever.
“I don’t think he’s going to be easy work. I do see holes in his game and things I can exploit, and so do my coaches, obviously. We called for this fight, so I got what I wanted. Come December 2, we’re going to make it work. We’re going to exploit them holes, we’re going to do big things. This can go a whole different way, but I’m not by any means looking forward to an easy night. I don’t expect any of this sh*t to be easy.”
On paper, Perry does have a few glaring advantages. For one, he’s the bigger man, having fought most of his career at welterweight and Alvarez at lightweight. Additionally, Perry has had three bareknuckle fights and a mixed-rules boxing fight since leaving MMA behind, while Alvarez is coming off his debut in bareknuckle boxing where he defeated fellow veteran Chad Mendes.
“I just feel like he doesn’t know what he’s up against,” Perry said. “I don’t understand how he thinks his boxing form what he did with Chad is going to transfer against me.”
Alvarez may not have the same amount of experience or size, but he feels if the past is any indicator of the future, Perry should have a tough out in December.
“He’s saying easy money, but he hasn’t had an easy fight besides Luke Rockhold,” Alvarez said. “And before them two, he lost a whole plethora of fights before them two. He hasn’t had an easy fight. I think he’s saying easy money because he wants an easy fight, but he hasn’t had an easy fight in a while. Besides Luke Rockhold, all his fights have been tough. He takes a lot of damage. He takes a lot of shots. They haven’t been easy.”
