UFC on FOX 26's Mike Perry dares Santiago Ponzinibbio to eye-poke, guarantees first-round KO

WINNIPEG – Mike Perry caught a few errant fingers to his eye during a training camp for Santiago Ponzinibbio. But the way Perry figured it, that was a good way to train for the challenge ahead.

So he encouraged training partners to keep poking him.

“I was like, ‘No, keep going, that’s good, I like it,” Perry told MMAjunkie in advance of his fight against Ponzinibbio at UFC on FOX 26. “It didn’t stop me or phase me for one second. This is what I do. I live for the pain.”

Ponzinibbio (25-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) was accused of eye-poking in his previous bout, a first-round knockout of Gunnar Nelson. Perry (11-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) agrees the Brazilian intentionally fouls but dares him to do it anyway.

“He likes to throw punches like a middle school girl,” Perry said. “He likes to open his fingers. I don’t know if he’s trying to palm at the hands. I’ve seen some videos where he was literally trying to stick his fingers in people’s eye. He also does this one, too, where he sticks the knuckle if he can land it in your eye.

“I like that. Come with it. If your finger goes in my mouth, it might get bit off.”

Besides, Perry adds, “God got my back.”

The pair engaged in a heated staredown to promote their FOX-televised Saturday fight at Bell MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. But Perry said there’s only business to think about when they get in the cage.

“No drama, baby,” Perry said. “No drama. We get in. We get out. We put people to sleep.”

The preternaturally confident 26-year-old Michigan slugger announces he will end Ponzinibbio early, whatever tactics legal or underhanded the Brazilian takes.

“I’m going to stand in the middle of the octagon, and he’s going to bounce around and move and try to find that range,” Perry said. “I’m going to time that range, and he’s going to come in, and I’m not going to move. I’m going to slip out of the way and catch him with the counter, and I’m going to knock him out, unconscious, in the first round – guaranteed.”

Perry even mocks the hand-eye coordination drills documented in pre-fight videos of Ponzinibbio’s training. He believes there’s no substitute for slugging it out.

“I’m out here fighting,” Perry said. “I’m running the streets. I’m running rampant. Let’s go, man.”

For more on UFC on FOX 26, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.