Mike Perry might be booking a flight to Las Vegas this week, and it’s for an off-the-books appointment with Dillon Danis rather than any spot on the card.
Perry revealed he’s considering showing up to this week’s Real American Freestyle event to confront Danis, according to comments Ariel Helwani shared on X. Perry opened by admitting he probably shouldn’t be saying any of it. “I don’t wanna snitch on myself prior to anything that could happen,” he said, and then he did it anyway.
“If I saw Dillon Danis, we gotta fight in the street,” Perry said. He added that it has to happen “for free, anywhere, any parking lot,” before closing with the most Mike Perry sentence imaginable: “If I see him, we gotta squabble, bro.”
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The event in question is RAF 14 on Friday, Oct. 23, at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, streaming on FOXNation starting at 8 p.m. ET. Danis is in the main event, facing Arman Tsarukyan at 175 pounds for the inaugural RAF middleweight crossover championship. So if Perry does make the trip, he knows exactly where Danis will be and roughly what time.
Danis has already been through the RAF wringer once. Colby Covington, the promotion’s cruiserweight crossover champion, is 5-0 in RAF with a win over Danis on his resume, alongside victories over Tsarukyan, Belal Muhammad, Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold. Tsarukyan comes in at 7-1 in the promotion and No. 3 in RAF’s first crossover rankings, released Monday. Danis isn’t in that top 20. Friday is his chance to change that against one of the best wrestlers on the list.
The co-main features Khamzat Chimaev against Robbie Lawler at a catchweight. Covington defends his crossover title against Chimaev next month in Abu Dhabi.
Perry’s timing is interesting for another reason. In a separate clip Helwani posted, Perry confirmed he’s done with BKFC. “That bare-knuckle stuff is like a cheat code,” he said, adding that MMA is in his foreseeable future and he plans to give it his best shot. “I think it’s gloves for me,” Perry said. No opponent or promotion has been announced for his return.
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Perry’s last big crossover stop was boxing, where he’s one of the names on Jake Paul’s list of beaten MMA fighters, a list Darren Till rattled off on X this week while angling for his own shot at Paul.
Quick take
I love a fighter who calls his shot, and Perry calling his shot in a parking lot is peak Platinum. But a free fight is the worst business plan in combat sports, and Perry just told us he wants to restart his MMA career. Somebody with a checkbook should take the hint and put these two in a cage with gloves on, where Perry gets paid and Danis can’t claim he got jumped by the valet stand. Until then, keep an eye on the Fontainebleau lobby Friday night, because Perry already told on himself.
