Mike Perry Says He Might ‘Francis Ngannou’ Santiago Ponzinibbio

UFC Winnipeg is coming in hot this weekend giving us more violence between Robbie Lawler and former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. Those aren’t the only welterweights promising destruction on the card. Mike Perry is looking to continue trying to punch his hype into the stratosphere by taking out Santiago Ponzinibbio. Breaking the fight down in a recent interview, Perry references surging heavyweight Francis Ngannou when forecasting what we can expect in their clash on Saturday.

“[Santiago Ponzinibbio] comes forward and he comes to fight so I’m going to throw hands. I’m quite experienced in that area and I’m used to opponents that like to kick and wrestle a lot so this changes it up a little. Styles make fights. He’s coming to throw hands and I got a lot of tools for that. I’m probably going to knock him the f-ck out in the first round. I just had a dream that I was f-cking this guy up for two rounds and I was about to choke him out at the end of the second. I let go of the choke and I just started hitting him and hitting him and he protected himself and I was like, you know, maybe I didn’t want to submit him and I wanted to get that knockout. Who knows man. I’m a smart motherf-cker and I’ll take that win any way that it comes to me.”

Since I’ve gotten to #Winnipeg people have been saying it’s not as cold around here as it usually is. Told y’all I was bringing #Heat

— Platinum Mike Perry (@PlatinumPerry) December 13, 2017

“I’m very dangerous with submissions so we will see where the fight goes. As soon as I put this jab in his face and bust his face up, he’s probably going to be vulnerable to be susceptible to this right hand and this left uppercut. You might just see another Francis Ngannou knockout. Show up [Ponzinibbio]. My last guy didn’t and I had to be nice to Alex Reyes. My opponents are already not showing up and I’m at the highest organization in the world fighting and the toughest motherf-ckers aren’t showing up. A guy that I grew up thinking was going to be champion, and he backs out against me. You better show up Ponzinibbio. They’re from the same camp too. As long as he shows up, he’s going to sleep.” — Mike Perry speaking on The MMA Jim podcast via MMA NYTT.

It’s not hard to believe him. Aside from a speed bump decision loss courtesy of Alan Jouban, Mike Perry has earned a KO/TKO in the rest of his 11 fights. He’s still unranked coming into his fight with 10th-ranked Santiago Ponzinibbio who’s on a five-fight win streak. If Perry takes out the Argentinean, not only does he land in the UFC’s official rankings, but sets up a match-up with one of the higher contenders. Mike Perry just hopes that this opponent shows up this time.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 12/13/2017.