Paul vs. Perry roundtable: Is Mike Perry primed to spoil the Jake Paul party?

Jake Paul vs. Mike Perry? You know what that means.

It’s time for another bizarro crossover boxing match!

Yes, we were just here two weeks ago, when MMA stars Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal threw down in a shockingly entertaining contest. Now, it’s the king of influencer boxers Paul taking on BKFC’s king of violence Perry. Paul’s controversial matchup with Mike Tyson was rescheduled for Nov. 15, but will he even make it to that date once Perry is through with him? MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti, Alexander K. Lee, and Damon Martin take an all-angles look at Saturday’s event, a matchup that could have far-reaching implications for both men.

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1. Is Mike Perry Jake Paul’s most dangerous opponent yet?

Al-Shatti: I suppose that depends on what we mean by dangerous.

If dangerous means “the man most capable of sending Paul’s head into orbit,” there’s a good argument to be made that both Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva were far more accomplished knockout artists than Perry. If dangerous means “the man most capable of beating Paul in a professional boxing match,” Tommy Fury clearly takes that mantle considering, one, he’s an actual professional boxer, and two, he actually defeated Paul in the squared circle. So in that regard, no, Perry doesn’t stack up to some of the names already on Paul’s résumé.

But if we’re talking about dangerous in a more abstract sense — i.e. “the total wildcard most capable of just doing really wild shit in there, and potentially teaching Paul a lesson about himself that he’d really rather not learn” — then good lord, absolutely, 100 percent, BKFC’s King of Violence is the most dangerous man Paul has ever come across. Perry has already broken far tougher and more decorated men than Paul, he brings an inherent ferocity to any arena that few people on Earth can match — and low-key, he has a knack for playing spoiler in situations where his skill set alone should realistically fall short. Just ask Michael Seals. As the great Charlie Kelly once showed, no one can ruin plans quicker than the wildcard.

Photos by Phil Lambert

Lee: Jake Paul has been in there with some kooky characters, but he’s really rolling the dice getting in there with Mike Perry.

Over the past couple of years, Perry has done a lot to change his image from a middling MMA welterweight with serious outside-of-the-cage issues (including domestic violence allegations raised by his ex-wife and his mother) to legitimate bare-knuckle boxing star. Whether you buy this rehabilitation is up to you, but there’s no question that he’s become a fan favorite and a big-enough name to be booked for this high-profile opportunity.

Perry has retained the most important part of his act: When the bell rings, you’re in for a hell of a show, and when it comes to his BKFC career, it’s typically been at the expense of his opponents. Luke Rockhold. Eddie Alvarez. Thiago Alves. All of these former UFC standouts left the BKFC ring with a slightly different face shape than they had before they traded punches with Perry. I hope Paul subscribes to the “chicks dig scars” theory because he’s likely to have a couple of new ones after this weekend, even with the big gloves in play.

Win or lose, Perry goes in there to hurt, and he has more knockout power than anyone Paul has fought before. Sorry, Jake, this isn’t going to be Tommy Fury pitter-pattering you to snooze-worthy decision loss. If you lose on Saturday, it will be because Perry checked that chin. Should that happen, there’s no telling how much psychological damage that could do to Paul on top of the physical.

Martin: Based on what we actually know about Jake Paul and the opponents he’s faced, Mike Perry is by far the most dangerous for a few different reasons.

When Paul first started touting himself as a future boxing champion, no one really knew what to expect. Beating up influencers on the undercard of your brother’s events doesn’t exactly tell us much. Flat-lining an NBA player like Nate Robinson shows you have knockout power, but that still doesn’t mean you can box.

Paul did pick up a number of wins over legitimately talented MMA fighters, but even those victories can be picked apart. Tyron Woodley is one the best welterweights of all-time, but he’s a wrestler with knockout power. That certainly doesn’t mean he’s a boxer. Ben Askren is a wrestler with no hands. Anderson Silva was pushing 50 years old. Nate Diaz is a lightweight. You get the point.

But Mike Perry is actually in the prime of his fighting career at 32 years old and he’s spent the past few years doing nothing but striking as a bare-knuckle boxing superstar at BKFC. Perry arguably has a better win on his record than Paul does — as far as boxing is concerned — when he beat Michael Seals in a special rule set match back in 2021.

Perry is ferocious, powerful, and relentless in the ring, and he has the kind of “I don’t give a f*ck” attitude that allows him the freedom to go head-hunting on Paul from the first second until the last. Could that potentially cost him? Of course. Perry often eats as many punches as he throws, but playing that game with him can (and usually does) end in disaster.

If Paul has dollar signs in his eyes waiting to beat up 58-year-old Mike Tyson in November, he might just get cashed out by a savage Perry come Saturday night.

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2. Will a Perry win derail the party on Nov. 15 for Paul vs. Tyson?

Al-Shatti: Not a chance.

Much like other “Ultra Famous Dudes Who Also Fight” — i.e. the Conor McGregor category — Paul’s allure to the general audience isn’t built on preserving the sanctity of some unblemished record. If it was, this whole saga would’ve ended 17 months ago once he lost to Tommy Fury. Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson is the type of fight Netflix wants because it’s the type of fight that gets audiences young and old alike morbidly interested to watch the car crash. I guarantee you the grandfather shopping in the dairy aisle of the grocery store doesn’t care if Mike Perry sends Paul to the land of wind and ghosts on Saturday, just as the 12-year-old who grew up indoctrinated in Paulmania doesn’t care if Perry goes out there and Rockholds the YouTuber. The former likely won’t even find out and the latter is going to continue riding-or-dying for their childhood hero regardless of what happens in Tampa.

Hell, if Paul actually does lose this weekend, it may actually boost interest from the endlessly vocal “Tyson Has No Chance Because He’s So Damn Old” crowd.

Either way, Paul’s rabid fan base isn’t going away and the spectacle of watching a near-mythical beast like Tyson do his thing while he’s still around will remain as strong as ever.

Esther Lin

Lee: It really could!

Look, I get that there’s been so much money and marketing muscle put into Paul vs. Tyson that it seems like the matchup will happen come hell or high water, even though it’s unclear who is actually looking forward this accursed event at this point. But if there was ever an excuse for Paul to ask for a postponement, wouldn’t a few brutal rounds with Perry be it?

Admittedly, there’s probably not a lot of crossover between the people tuning in this Saturday and the people tuning in Nov. 15, but should Paul have a poor showing against Perry, word will get out. Not to mention the possibility of an unfortunate moment for Paul going viral. Imagine if Perry manages to land a shot that has Paul touching canvas. That will be replied a million times over the next four months and suddenly there’s a whole new narrative heading into the Tyson fight.

I’ll go as far as to argue that Paul needs to not only beat Perry, he has to look good doing it. Your average, normal, non-combat sports obsessed human being has no clue who Perry is. If he ends up humbling Paul, it will be a massive blow to the 27-year-old’s brand. Tyson vs. Paul will still draw massive interest, but it definitely loses some shine if Paul is coming off of a loss to a far less famous bare-knuckle boxer.

Martin: It’s tough to say, but really that decision ultimately lies with Netflix.

The streaming service is footing the bill to promote this bizarre boxing match between a social influencer and an aging legend who is much closer to being an octogenarian than he is a teenager. Weirdly, a compelling loss where Paul gets into a grueling war with a savage like Perry might actually convince a few more people that Tyson has a chance to beat him.

Then again, Paul getting absolutely demolished and then turning around to fight again in November might be a tough stretch, so that’s where the questions come in. So technically the answer is yes, it’s possible that Perry costs Paul the fight with Tyson, but it seems unlikely.

Through 10 fights in his career, Paul’s brand has been built around spectacle more than wins or losses. While he still references his split decision loss to Tommy Fury from time to time, that barely registers as a blip on Paul’s radar these days.

For a guy who keeps touting his plan to win championships and beat up guys like Canelo Alvarez, Paul’s real agenda involves taking on big names and cashing even bigger checks. The Tyson fight might lose some luster if Paul gets face-planted by Perry, but otherwise this matchup is more than likely moving ahead as scheduled.

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3. Who wins?

Al-Shatti: Mike Perry’s bank account.

For real, not since Jorge Masvidal exploded into a superstar overnight in 2019 have we seen a financial transformation that compares to what Perry has undergone since leaving the UFC. This is a man who lost seven of his last 10 octagon bouts — and suddenly, three years later, is a multi-millionaire with promotional juice for days and no end to this gold rush in sight. Let that be a lesson to us all. Sometimes the key to life really is just finding where you fit in the world rather than stubbornly trying to force a square peg to fit into a round hole.

But to answer the actual question, Paul wins a fight that’s grimier than his usual but clearly shows the difference between the brutecraft of bare-knuckle boxing and the oh-so-sweet science of the big-gloved arts. Perry is going to bring the fight and test Paul’s mettle in a way it’s never been tested before, but ultimately the YouTuber will be too large and too long for the BKFC star. Expect Paul to get on his bike and jab his way to victory as the rounds wear on and those 10-ounce gloves protect him from the kind of facial reconstruction Perry’s last few opponents have come to enjoy. Jake Paul via unanimous decision.

Esther Lin

Lee: Paul.

For all the doomsaying I’ve written above, this should be a pit-stop on the way to Paul’s more prestigious punch-up with Tyson in November. Perry has been saying a lot about how Paul has no concept of how different bare-knuckle boxing is, but I think Perry should consider that he’s never been in a traditional boxing match with this kind of circus around it. Like it or not, he’s in Paul’s world now.

Jake Paul is, at best, an above average boxer relative to his level of experience, and that should still be enough to handle Perry. The size and athleticism of Paul have carried him through some tough spots and I don’t expect that to change when he crosses swords with “Platinum.” Perry is wild, dangerous, and unpredictable, but does he have more surprises up his sleeve than a Nate Diaz or an Anderson Silva? Doubtful.

It’s more likely that the always well-prepared Paul feasts on Perry’s aggression, while wisely avoiding the taunts to “bring it on” that are sure to be peppered throughout the contest. Perry will do his best to make it nasty, but Paul won’t bite.

Eventually, the larger Paul will lock in on Perry, pick up on a fatal tell, and take out the face of BKFC in the sixth round.

Martin: On paper, Paul should win based on his overall experience in boxing and the ability to do just enough to cruise to victory as he did in past fights against guys like Silva and Diaz. Paul didn’t take too many unnecessary risks against either of them but he did manage a brief knockdown in both to help him get the nod on the scorecards.

Just for a moment, however, let’s think about how Perry can pull off the upset.

He’s a hard-charging bull with devastating knockout power in both hands and the grit and moxie to make this a slugfest. If Perry can lure his foe into the kind of fight where Paul can’t dictate the pace and actually has to just stand and trade punches round after round, this becomes a much closer contest.

Perry’s aggressive style could easily cost him, especially with Paul carrying around a nuclear bomb in his right hand, but he presents problems the 27-year-old fighter from Cleveland just hasn’t faced before. In his lone loss, Paul only had to deal with Tommy Fury dancing on the outside and sticking a jab in his face for eight rounds and not much else happened.

That’s not going to happen with Perry. He’s going to be in Paul’s face from the first second until the last, and he’ll be throwing heavy leather behind every punch. To add to that, Perry has always shown effective conditioning, even though he’s constantly throwing heat-seeking missiles, but cardio has been a problem for Paul in the past.

That’s why my pick is this being the night that Paul goes night-night, perhaps late in the seventh or eighth round just as Perry predicted.