Eddie Alvarez praised Mike Perry after their bare-knuckle war at BKFC 56.
On Saturday night, Alvarez and Perry met inside the Maverik Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the BKFC 56 main event. The highly-anticipated matchup reached the expectations set by fans, as the two warriors went toe-to-toe throwing bare-knuckle bombs.
Following round two, Alvarez’s corner surrendered due to the damage inflicted by Perry. Once the dust settled, ‘The Underground King’ remained humble and praised his opponent for his toughness.
Alvarez had this to say (transcribed by MMA Junkie) during the BKFC 56 post-fight press conference:
“Tonight I dared to be great. I went up a weight class with Mike. I did, I really dared to be great. And I thought, with everything in me, I could beat a bigger guy given my skill set, given his style. I’m not going back on anything. I thought I could beat Mike Perry tonight, bigger or not. And I didn’t. I came up short.” [Transcribed by MMA Junkie]
Eddie Alvarez continued by giving Mike Perry his well-deserved respect:
“With a bare fist, I thought for sure Mike would go down. He didn’t. My hat’s off to Mike Perry. The guy’s a f*cking battle axe. He can take a shot. He can keep plodding forward and give them. He reminds me of myself a lot. I was fighting a little mirror of myself in there tonight, and Mike was the better man.” [Transcribed by MMA Junkie]
Watch Eddie Alvarez’s entire BKFC 56 post-fight press conference below:
Eddie Alvarez wants a rematch against Mike Perry in Philadelphia
Most fighters wouldn’t want to fight in bare-knuckle boxing again after enduring the damage Eddie Alvarez acquired against Mike Perry. With that said, Alvarez is much tougher than most fighters, and he’s not afraid of a rematch with Perry.
During the BKFC 56 post-fight press conference, ‘The Underground King’ had this to say when told BKFC president David Feldman wants to potentially make Perry vs. Alvarez 2 next:
“Oh, man, that’d be a beautiful motherf*cking thing, I’ll tell you that. Hey, one more time, Mikey [Perry]. Please, give it to me. You come to North Philly, you do me that favor, big dog.”
Eddie Alvarez made his BKFC debut in April, defeating Chad Mendes by split decision. It’s unclear what’s next for Alvarez, but there’s no doubt he’s interested in testing himself again under the BKFC banner.
As for Mike Perry, the future is bright for the face of bare-knuckle boxing. Perry holds a BKFC record of 4-0 after securing wins against Julian Lane, Michael ‘Venum’ Page, Luke Rockhold, and Eddie Alvarez.
Eddie Alvarez asked if he would want his next fight to be a rematch with Mike Perry in Philadelphia:
Oh man, that'd be a beautiful, motherfucking thing, I tell ya that. pic.twitter.com/OIRiHI1vMX
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) December 3, 2023
