With Dillon Danis vs. Logan Paul getting closer each day, more and more names from the MMA world are taking a keen interest in the buildup, with the latest being Luke Rockhold. The former UFC Middleweight champion believes that Paul will not face backup fighter Mike Perry.
In one of his latest interviews with MMA Hour, Paul described the turns the buildup to his bout has taken. He admitted that it started as something normal. The social media attacks are how they sell a fight. However, Danis’ attacks turned into something he describes as “stalker-esque”. He further called Danis a “coward” and explained that he picked a fight with a woman because that is something “a person like Dillon Danis would do.”
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Recently, Paul has accused Danis of committing a federal crime. The YouTuber’s fiancee Nina Agdal has also filed a lawsuit against Danis. As the law is becoming involved more and more, it is being rumored that Danis will pull out of the fight. In a cryptic tweet, Danis even indicated that he was pulling out. However, he has not done anything of the sort officially.
On the other hand, Rockhold has asked Paul to “shut up and fight” by commenting on an Instagram post by Ariel Helwani. He further commented, “Logan won’t fight Mike, watch.”
Former UFC fighter and current bare-knuckle fighter, Mike Perry, is the backup fighter in the Paul vs. Danis bout. After Danis left early from the press conference, Perry stood in the face-off against Paul. However, Rockhold, who experienced first-hand what Perry could do, claimed that Paul would not fight Perry.
Luke Rockhold suffered gruesome injuries at the hands of Mike Perry
Perry made his professional MMA debut in September 2014. By October 2016, he had two UFC bouts under his belt along with a 9-0 record. However, it went downhill for him since. By April 2021, Perry had a 14-8 record in professional MMA. He moved on to bare-knuckle fighting and joined the Bare-Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC).
Dec12.2015
Luke Rockhold ends Chris Weidman’s undefeated streak,
to become the new UFC Middleweight Champion pic.twitter.com/O5d92Qt3al
— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) December 13, 2019
On the other hand, Rockhold held an impressive 15-2 record when he won the UFC Middleweight championship after beating Chris Weidman at UFC 194. However, he lost the title in his first defense attempt against Michael Bisping. His last bout in UFC was in August last year ━ a defeat against Paulo Costa making his record 16-6.
Rockhold moved to BKFC as well and met Perry at BKFC 41 in April this year. The 38-year-old Rockhold lost via a TKO (retirement) in the second round. A brutal punch by Perry saw a part of Rockhold’s tooth fly out. Rockhold alerted the referee and retired from the match.
Luke Rockhold update after #BKFC41 loss to Mike Perry pic.twitter.com/o3cmYo8nG4
— MyMMANews (@MyMMANews) April 30, 2023
After the match, he said, “Well, f***. What can I say? You can check bare-knuckle off the list. It’s some crazy s***. Those little knuckles got me, square on the front two [teeth].”
The American received several stitches on his lip to close the deep gash caused by Perry’s punch. He also had to get dental work done to repair the damage done to his teeth.
