UFC: Mike Perry praises girlfriend’s ‘humble’ cornering and claims coaches try to ‘take credit’ for Octagon success

“Platinum” Mike Perry praised his girlfriend’s cornering abilities while trashing coaches from the fight before his unanimous decision win over Mickey Gall at UFC Vegas 4 on Saturday.

The 28-year-old American (14-6) was subject to criticism leading up to the fight after announcing girlfriend Latory Gonzalez – who is not familiar with combat sports – would be his only cornerman at the empty Apex Arena. Several analysts raised the importance of having a coach’s input during camps and between rounds.

“There were a lot of haters, hating on us, on her. And she’s so innocent in all this. Obviously it’s because I talk from an entertainment side of the sport and because they be hating on me so hard,” said Perry at the post-fight press conference.

Gonzalez accompanied Perry during the walkout and put ice on his back in between his three-round fight welterweight fight with fellow American Gall (6-3). While Gonzalez has no experience coaching or cornering in combat sports, Perry mentioned in the past that she was a high school wrestler.

“[Gonzalez] did a great job, she kept it very simple,” he said. “I heard a couple of things during the fight and remember thinking ‘OK, she’s getting into it now’. There was one time [Gall] had swung and just missed and she said ‘get your hands back up’. Then in the corner when she was rubbing ice on me, she kept asking me what I wanted and ‘what can I do?’, trying to do more for me. It was really cool just sitting there quiet and thinking about how the next round is gonna do.”

“My girl did such a great job bringing in the stool with the bucket of water. Sometimes coaches be so ready to get in there and just tell you something and think they’re gonna make a difference.

“It’s for themselves, like they told you something that helped you win this UFC fight. They’re just getting money and attention, and trying to take credit for what your work has done. Bro, you carry that bucket and bring me that stool,” Perry added, noting that he deciphered some of Gall’s team’s code words in the third round. “I remember thinking, ‘man your corner should be telling you more, you need to do something’.”

Perry also took issue with comments made in the fight immediately preceding his – heavyweights Gian Villante (17-12) vs Maurice Greene (8-5), in which Greene secured a third-round submission.

“I remember Gian Villante going back to his corner and his coach was saying ‘what are you doing? You’re doing nothing’, and it’s like ‘you ain’t doing nothing, bro’, you sitting on the outside,” Perry said of Villante’s coach before turning his attention to UFC analyst and former middleweight champion Michael Bisping.

“Then Michael Bisping is like ‘oh that’s great coaching’. No, that’s terrible, don’t make the guy feel bad and down on himself. Amp him up or something.

“I understand that we’re entertainers and gotta put on a show ... but sometimes you need to be smart and technical and more patient. It’s almost hard to do that than go forward and take punches. The coaches are putting guys in position to walk into shots and get beat, especially at heavyweight.

“They haven’t been in the position these fighters are in. That’s why I didn’t have any coaches. [My girlfriend] knows I’ve been in my position. She spoke from a humble standpoint on the outside. I didn’t need advice. Maybe that was luck tonight,” Perry said.