Mike Perry doesn’t have any issues with Conor McGregor, despite their recent altercation.
Back in 2023, Perry was in the middle of a career Renaissance with his move to Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. In the main event of BKFC 41, Perry stopped former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, cementing himself as the burgeoning sport’s biggest star. Immediately afterward, Conor McGregor entered the ring, leading to a faceoff between the two, building toward a possible fight.
McGregor later became a part owner of BKFC, and after Perry lost to Jake Paul in their boxing match in July of 2024, McGregor ripped “Platinum” for starting his own fight promotion, and then threatened to fire him. That started a series of back-and-forth comments between them that has since cooled off, but the rivalry was rekindled at a recent BKFC press conference when Perry called for a fight between the two and McGregor responded by telling Perry to “dance for me.”
But while it may seem like there’s real animosity between the two, Perry says that’s not the case. At least, not on his end.
“A little bit confusing. A little confusing,” Perry told Demetrious Johnson on his YouTube when asked how that situation was for him. “I keep things a certain way and the guy asked me — I actually didn’t expect them to ask me the state of me and Conor McGregor. I guess I’m stupid for not expecting that. But they did and I said, ‘Hey, I want to fight you,’ and he’s like, ‘Well, you’re going to dance for me.’ It was confusing.
“I got lots of people like, ‘I wish you would’ve hit him,’ or ‘I wish you would’ve done this,’ and I’m like, OK, but why are you guys such haters? Technically because he said he fired me I should hate him? He kept the company afloat while I’ve gotten time with my family. He is a great promoter and he speaks well. We haven’t seen him in the ring in over four years or more, and my first thought as a pro fighter wasn’t, I’m going to hit this guy for being in my face and telling me you’re fighting Oct. 11.
“He did a little bit kind of steal the spark of that announcement, because I called him out for a fight and he had to protect himself. ‘You’ll dance for me, Oct. 11.’ And I’m just like, alright, he’s announcing my date. Yeah, I’m going to fight. And we know I’m not fighting you. You’re still owned by the UFC. You can’t get out. They’re holding on tight to you. You’re promoting for us.”
For Perry, the whole situation was not nearly as big as people made it out to be, though he did make sure to take a snide shot at McGregor anyway.
“People are like, you should’ve hit him, and I’m like, why?” Perry said. “I’m a pro fighter. We toe the line. We start fair and square. If someone hits me first, or touches my face, I’m going to try to get toward them, and if I’m able to get through five security guards, then I will hit them. But that’s part of the game. Dealing with him, I didn’t have any ill will or animosity.
“I was happy to be back, I was promoting my tequila, I was looking good up on stage, I was thinking about my wife in the audience, and I definitely didn’t want anybody throwing a dolly at her or something like that.”
Though he is part-owner of BKFC, McGregor still has two fights left on his UFC contract. The former two-division UFC champion has not competed since 2021, though he’s teased a return multiple times, including recently for the proposed UFC White House card.
