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UFC welterweight star Mike Perry has weighed in on the Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley professional boxing match.
Earlier this year, Mike Perry sparred with Jake Paul and later got into a social media feud with Paul. This came after the YouTube megastar posted a video from their sparring session wherein Mike Perry seemingly admitted that Jake Paul got the better of him in sparring.
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Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Mike Perry spoke about Paul vs. Woodley and provided a detailed account of his sparring session with Jake Paul. Perry explained:
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“We sparred one time for six rounds. We did six rounds. He was smooth in the first couple; first three rounds. And then my pressure started adding up because that’s the difference between me and T-Wood (Tyron Woodley); it’s that T-Woodley started off really defensive, and there was not a lot of action going on."
"And me, I just went straight for it. And he (Jake Paul) hit me a couple of times; clean shots. But there was no follow-up. I said on an interview that he didn’t have that finishing killer instinct. Once he hits you with a good shot, that’s about it, and then he’s back on his bike. And I just let him kind of hit me with his best shots. It’s like I kind of wanted to feel it. And then, that does something to a man. When he hits you as hard as he can, and you just keep coming at him.”
“And I was trying to put him on the ropes, and it started working. My pressure added up, and I started landing some hooks, started making him drop into some uppercuts. That’s another thing boxers do that MMA guys don’t When they bob and weave, when you throw a shot, they duck really low. They duck all the way down to kicking range. That’s why MMA guys don’t duck like that because of knees and kicks. And Muay Thai is more like upright, but I just knew that I was going to be able to take his shots."
"And I was trying to be a good sparring partner too. I was trying to be a good training partner. I know he has a good team and good people around him. I was kind of trying to be a part of it and see if I can come back around. But then he tried to make a fool out of me when Dustin Poirier said he wanted to see him (Paul) fight me.”
Mike Perry noted that his sparring session with Jake Paul took place a week or two before he fought Daniel Rodriguez and before Paul fought Ben Askren. The Perry-Rodriguez MMA matchup took place on April 10th, 2021, whereas the Paul-Askren boxing bout transpired on April 17th, 2021. Mike Perry continued:
“So, Poirier said something on Twitter like, ‘Oh, I wanna see him fight Mike Perry’. So, then Jake posted this (sparring session) video, and I knew the cameras were there. They’re obviously always rolling on footage when they’re in the gym. And I saw the camera there. And I feel like I kind of set him up. Deep down, I knew that this was gonna come out. And I walked over to him, and I said, ‘Hey, man. You kicked my a**’. He did! He did a good job at keeping his distance."
"And I’m a fan of boxing. I understand keeping the range and the distance. And it’s like a pretty style, and he fights that way ‘cause he’s got a lot of money behind him and he has to fight a very protective way not a real gritty way. And he posted the video of me saying, ‘Oh, you kicked my a**, Jake’. And then he said, ‘In his words, I already kicked his a**’. Like, he didn’t wanna have the fight with me. But he knows what was happening in the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds of our sparring match. And I never slowed down. And I just always put on pressure. And when I sparred him, I was 180 and he was like 195. So, if we were going to prepare for something, it’s a totally different thing.”
Mike Perry works on his boxing skills and Jake Paul continues his ascent in the boxing world
Mike Perry has recently expressed interest in competing as a professional boxer. He briefly competed in the sport a few years back but is best-known for his MMA career.
‘Platinum’ has noticeably been busy sharpening his boxing skills as of late. Perry’s on a two-fight losing streak in the UFC, and it’s likely that his next fight could very well take place in the boxing ring rather than the UFC octagon.
Meanwhile, Jake Paul picked up the biggest win of his professional boxing career this past Sunday night. Showcasing his technical boxing skills, Jake Paul out-boxed and beat former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley via split decision.
The belief is that the win over Woodley has opened up even bigger fights and opportunities for the 24-year-old Jake Paul in professional boxing. Presently, Jake Paul’s next opponent and comeback date are yet to be revealed.
