Ex-UFC star Mike Perry turned down the opportunity to box on Jake Paul and Mike Tyson’s undercard.
Perry claims he was offered a fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, the son of legendary three-weight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez, on July 20.
Yet despite the massive exposure he would have inevitably received for fighting on a Netflix card headlined by two of the biggest names in boxing, Perry insists the pay wasn’t good enough to get him to sign on the dotted line.
“There were some things on the table with that, and the pay wasn’t incredible, especially considering the opponent,” Perry told The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
“I was like oh, I’m interested in being on the Mike Tyson Netflix card to get that exposure against this, certified, professional boxer.
“But the money and there was another option that would be and I could only choose one of them.
“It was like, there was another option to have more money, and possibly opens more doors, and there’s some incentives involved that I was like, this would be more interesting.
“That [fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.] would’ve been cool, but [it’s not happening].”
Perry left the UFC in 2021 in pursuit of bigger paydays.
He joined bare-knuckle boxing promotion BKFC one year later and has now earned more money in his last two fights with the organisation than he did in his entire career with the UFC.
Perry fought 15 times under the UFC banner and received a total of $1.3million from all his fights combined.
By comparison, he banked a remarkable $1.7m for his BKFC bouts against former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves.
Paul and Tyson are expected to earn around $20m each for their crossover clash while the co-feature attraction between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano will command a pretty penny as well.
Therefore, it is perhaps no surprise that Netflix may not have been willing to match Perry’s wage demands.
So far no other fights have been added to the undercard although there are expected to be some Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) prospects on the bill.
News Summary:
- Former UFC star rejects Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson undercard fight as he claims pay was ‘too low’
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