Mike Perry scored a savage knockout when the UFC last visited Manchester.
‘Platinum’ went to war with English welterweight Danny Roberts on the undercard of Michael Bisping’s early-morning rematch with Dan Henderson at UFC 204 in October 2016.
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‘Hot Chocolate’ had his moments but ultimately suffered a bad KO loss.
Perry caught Roberts with a hook with just 30 seconds left on the fight clock.
Paddy Pimblett’s ex-training partner did a funny dance that suggested he was ready to be taken out before eating a massive knee from the clinch.
Somehow, he remained upright but a follow-up punch put him out cold.
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Roberts’ head bounced off the canvas and Perry followed him to the floor.
The fight was over, but referee Marc Goddard hesitated to stop it.
Perry smashed his unconscious opponent with three massive ground strikes before the Octagon official finally stepped him to save Roberts.
Eight years later, Dana White and co. are gearing up for another late show in the Northwest of England, with Leon Edwards set to headline UFC 304 on July 27.
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The welterweight champion will defend his belt against Belal Muhammad at the Co-op Live Arena at around 5am.
One week earlier, Perry will square off against Jake Paul in boxing.
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The 32-year-old suffered eight defeats in the 13 fights that followed his win over Roberts before being released by MMA’s premier promotion in 2021.
Since then, Perry has re-invented himself as a bare-knuckle boxer.
Michael ‘Venom’ Page’, Luke Rockhold and Eddie Alvarez have all fallen to defeats against the American during his five-fight win streak in Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship.
Perry’s fine form earned him a fight with Paul on July 20.
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‘The Problem Child’ was supposed to face Mike Tyson on the same date, but the boxing legend suffered a scary mid-flight medical issue, and their bout was rescheduled to November 15.
Perry filled his spot and is confident he'll become the first MMA fighter to beat Paul, who has boxing wins over Ben Askren, Tyson Woodley, Anderson Silva, and Nate Diaz.
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The jury is out on Perry's ability to compete with Paul as he will enter the bout at a significant size disadvantage after being KO’d in his lone boxing match in 2015.
Footage from the fight has been circulating on social media recently but so has a clip of his win over Roberts, which shows he has KO power and a ruthless streak.